LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






Ihelf ,.\/\/5fc 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A BOOK THAT EVERY STUDENT OF ENGLISH 
SHOULD OWN. 



DEVELOPMENT 

OF 

ENGLISH LITEKATURE 

AND 

LANGUAGE. 

By prof. a. H. welsh, M.A. 



Univeksity Edition, complete in one volume, . . . S3 00 
Library Edition, 2 volumes, crown octavo, cloth, . 5 00 



From John G. Whittier. \ 

■■It is a work greatly needed.' 

From Oliver Wendell Holmes. i 

' The work cannot fail to be of great assistance as a | 
guide to all who wish to be directed in their study of the j 
literature of the English language." 

From Cyrus Northrop, Professor of English Literature, 
Yale College. 
'The work is clear, animated, and natural in its style, 
judicious in its criticisms, happy in its illustrative selec- 
tions. I very cordially recommend if 



ESSENTIALS OF ENdLISH 



SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND PRIVATE STUDY 



ALFRED II: WELSH, A.M. 

AfTHOR OF DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE, 
AND ESSENTIALS OF GEOMETRY 



The cultiiri" of expret^sioii ^^hould bv. a [specific ^tiuly, quite disstinct from 
the invention of thought. — Choate 



JUL 31 ^ , 



CHICAGO 
S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY 

1884 






Copyright, 1884, 
Bt S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. 



I KNIGHT a LEOKAS^D . | 



TO 

GOVEEISTOE CHARLES FOSTER, 

STATESMAN. PHILAXTHROPIST. AND COMMONER, 

Who, having a Genius for Acquisition, has used it like a Brother: 
AND having a Genius for Public Affairs, has used it like a Patriot: 
AS A Friend Warm and Steadfast, as an Opponent Conscientious 
and Tolerant, as a Leader Intrepid and Seer-like; a Type 
of the Self-made American, whose Honors have been con- 
ferred BY THE University of the People; an Example 
of Triumphant ' Westernism,' of whom it has 
been said that He has avon more Doubtful 
Battles for Himself and Party, and held 
THE Friendship of more Oddly-matched 
Political Associates than almost 
any Man living. 



PREFACE. 



/^~\NE of tlie most gratifying tokens of progress in the 
^-^ present age is the deep interest that both scholars 
and people are manifesting in the study of our noble 
English, originating, it has been well suggested, in an 
intelligent comprehension of what is good and what is 
great in national history, national institutions, national 
character. We have seen this study transferred from the 
nurserj' to the college curriculum, while there is an ever 
increasing class of persons so heterodox as to believe that 
one may be fairly educated without knowing even Shake- 
speare's ' small Latin and less Greek,' and to advocate 
that English, which hitherto has sat with exceeding 
humility in the lower seats of the synagogue, should be 
bidden, universally, to come up higher. 'I may avow,' 
says President Eliot, of Harvard, 'as the result of my 
reading and observation in the matter of education, that I 
recognize but one mental acquisition as an essential part 
of a lady or a gentleman — namely, an accurate and a 
refined use of the mother-tongue.' Without in the least, 
however, disparaging the innnense value of classical and 
modern Continental literature as an instrument of gen- 
eral culture, all who appreciate knowledge by the standard 
of practical as well as of liberal utility, must be pleased 



Vlll PEEFACE. 

with the growing demand for English instruction in 
English schools. 

Involved in this revolution of sentiment is a revolution 
of method and of object. The end formerly proposed 
was correctness in speaking and writing, enforced deduc- 
tively by mechanical forms, abstract definitions, set rules. 
This view is fast yielding to the sounder one, that the 
purposes of language-stud}^ are various, that not the least 
of these is reflective-power; that mere correctness is only 
one, and a subordinate one, which, while it must be pro- 
moted by the endeavor to conform to laws, is attained 
chiefly by daily hearing, reading, and imitating well- 
framed sentences ; that a true knowledge of English is to 
be acquired by observing its use and action in different 
centuries, by a direct acquaintance with its literature, not 
through the medium of precept or the dissecting-room of 
the grammarian. 

The custom of teaching grammar fortnally to very 
young children is hence characterized as impolitic, irra- 
tional, fruitless. Inverting the order of nature, it puts 
the abstract before the concrete, denies to the mind the 
knowledge it craves, and crams it with the knowledge it 
cannot digest. 'It may without hesitation be affirmed,' 
says M. Marcel, Hhat grammar is not the stepping-stone, 
but the finishing instrument.' Language lessons are 
proper to the empirical stage, but grammar, which gen- 
eralizes the facts thus presented, and all whose rules come 
by long observation and comparison, belongs to the 
rational. A language is spoken and written centuries 
before its usages are systematized, and it has never been 



PREFACE. IX 

observed that either individnals or nations normally start 
with science. 

Another error, which has been a long-standing cause 
of the iinfruit fulness so often seen in English teaching, is 
the attempt to bring the facts and idioms of the language 
into conformity with the rules of Latin. But what have 
they now in common ? Once, indeed, our English was in- 
flected ; but not till long after it began to cast itself into 
its present simple mould was a constructive grammar 
given it — then a grammar whose rules and nomenclature 
were taken from the Latin, with which it had scarcely 
any formal affinity, to which it bore no formal likeness, 
and from which, though it has borrowed words, it has bor- 
rowed no principles. 'Parts of speech' are recognized in 
the one, as of old, by the inflection test ; in the other, no 
longer thus, but by the junction of ideas. 

This adoption of formalism where form was not, has 
led to the predominance of rule-teaching and memory- 
stuffing. To teach deductively, to give the result of 
inquiry without the inquiry which conducts to it, is ener- 
vating and repellant. The excitement of the student's 
self-activity is, most irrationally, subordinated to the im- 
partation of knowledge. On the contrary, to reach con- 
clusions by the observation of individual instances, to 
introduce the mind to principles through the medium of 
examples, and so to lead from the particular to the gen- 
eral, is invigorating and pleasurable. The student is 
regarded scientifically, not as a receptacle to be filled, but 
as an organism to be developed. Vividness and perma- 
nency of impression are guaranteed. Knowledge is 



X PREFACE. 

turned into faculty. Principles do not lie in the memory 
as dead or insulated statements, but enter organically into 
the fund of thinking. 'Between a mind of rules and a 
mind of principles,' says Spencer, 'there exists a differ- 
ence such as that between a confused heap of materials 
and the same materials organized into a complete whole.' 
Accordingly, the present work has been elaborated in 
the light of our earliest literature and its history onward. 
In science a phenomenon is explained by its antecedent 
phenomena. A tree is explained, not by its full-leaved 
glory, but by the states and forms through which it has 
successively advanced. Our English strikes its roots deep 
into the death-kingdoms of the past. 'Old English,' says 
Mr. Skeat, 'is the right key to the understanding of mod- 
ern English, and those who will not use this key will never 
open the lock with all their fumbling.' Nor is it to be 
viewed in itself alone, but in its connections with cognate 
Aryan tongues — especially with German, Dutch, Danish, 
Icelandic, Romance. Classical illustrations may be help- 
ful by parallelism or by contrast. Only thus can the 
grand truths which underlie and give significance to the 
particulars, be recognized. The historical is the one royal 
road to a clear vision of the fruitful and liberating ideas 
that English has a continuity of life ; that its character is 
composite ; that its course has been a process of evolution ; 
that words contain the imagination and feelings of bygone 
ages in fossil form ; that a living language is ever chang- 
ing ; that grammar is a record of habits of expression as 
determined by the preponderant practice of leading 
writers, yet, that the example of no writer, however emi- 



PREFACE. XI 

nent, can establish or justify a use of words out of the 
line of normal development ; that the English which we 
ought to speak and write, derives its authority primarily, 
not from the dicta of grammarians and lexicographers, 
but from the slowly evolved will of the nation. 

The fact never to be forgotten is, that the mind, while 
it may shift its attention, can attend to but one thing at a 
time. The induction and classification of the noun, verb, 
etc., constitute one operation ; the inflection of the in- 
flected parts, quite another. Each, homogeneous in itself, 
is best presented separately, without interruption. The 
same is true of the formation, transmutation, and logical 
functions of words ; of the logical functions, first of 
phrases, then of clauses ; of the principal, subordinate and 
independent elements of the sentence ; of its classification, 
capitalization, punctuation, concord, order, and diction. 
To intermingle these topics is to violate the first principle 
of the economy or conduct of the understanding — that 
separate subjects should be made separate lessons. Hence, 
also, collateral essay or theme-writing is strongly objec- 
tionable ; for it is a contravention of the all-pervading 
canon of teachino- — to do one thing at a time. The find- 
ing of the matter leaves a distracted attention for the 
study of the manner. Something, liowever, may be given 
in outline for expansion ; poetry and prose niay be 
changed on a definite plan ; sentences may be rearranged 
on definite principles ; passages may be modernized from 
old English, or be turned into English idiom from literal 
translations of Latin and Greek, or of German and 
French. 



Xll PREFACE. 

Exercises are sufficiently copious and varied to insure 
permanency of impression and familiarity of use. They 
are purposely mixed, to prevent reliance, in the applica- 
tion of principles, upon anything but common sense and 
industry. In their selection, regard has been had, where 
practicable, not only to appositeness of form but to beauty 
of imagery and utility of content. The effective employ- 
ment of phraseology is taught both directly, by the pre- 
sentation of good models, and indirectly, by the exhibition 
of faulty ones. To both, as far as might be, it has been 
sought to lend the charm of personality. Particularly in 
the discussion of errors, examples which are referable to 
no one are apt to seem itnaginary rather than real. Men 
of straw, set up to be knocked down, impress slightly. 
But when exercises to be corrected are accompanied by 
the name of the author quoted, they have a plain and 
indubitable existence. 

It will be seen that the scheme herein proposed offers 
a two-fold advantage; to-wit, in the available knowledge 
it imparts, and in the mental discipline it furnishes. The 
latter is promoted by the inductive method of procedure, 
by the logical sequence of topics, by the elimination of 
technical jargon, by the concentration of energy upon the 
thought. Thus the student is not only advanced to a 
true mastery of his native speech, but is helped, rather 
than perplexed, in the acquisition of a foreign one. Ac- 
cording as he can or can not determine the subject of 
'Who steals my purse steals trasli,' he will or will not be 
able to determine the subjective relations of abjiciet and 
extorquebit in the following: 



PREFACE. Xlll 

HcBC nee liominis nee ad Iwminem vox e-'it, qua qui apud te, C. 
Ccesar, ntitur, suam citius ahjiciet Jiumanitatem quatn extorqiiehit 
tuam.^ 

What teacher of Latin and Greek is not painfully 

aware of the difficulty with which students in general 

render the periods of Cicero and Thucydides into their 

own idiom? In very large measure the difficulty arises 

from an incompetent acquaintance with the links that 

connect an English sentence. To master the intricacies 

of the English, is to go, in point of reasoning power, 

beyond either Latin or Greek: for the English sentence 

is constructed upon the basis of logic ; the Greek and 

Latin, upon the basis of verbal forms. The greater 

should imply the less. 

Upon questions of construction in inflected languages, where 
everything depends upon simple verbal form, appeal is made to 
the sense of sight if the period is written, to that of hearing, if 
pronounced, and the meaning is often determined by no higher 
faculties than those concerned in the comparison of mere material 
and sensuous objects. In English, on the contrary, although we 
have fixed laws of position, yet, as position does by no means 
necessarily conform to the order of thought, and nothing in the 
form indicates the grammatical connection of the words, there is 
a constant intellectual effort to detect the purely logical relations 
of the constituents of the period ; . . . . and hence it may be fairly 
said, that the construction and comprehension of an English sentence 
demand and suppose the exercise of higher mental powers than are 
required for the framing or understanding of a proposition in 
Latin. •^ 

For that domain of rhetorical instruction which belongs 
to maturer years and a more liberal curriculum, the au- 

1 Cicero: Pro Q. Ligario Oratio. 

2 G. P. Mai>h: Lectures on the English Language. 



XIV PREFACE. 

thor hopes to make acceptable provision in the near 
future. Meanwhile his aim has been to produce, not an 
exhaustive treatise for the few, but a manual of essentials 
for the many; to present in compact and orderly system, 
the cardinal facts of the English language and the cardi- 
nal qualities of English style; to supply what the learner 
will be willing to read, and cannot fail to understand; to 
feed the mind, as well as to train it, and thus to give to 
the study of English no inconsiderable place in general 
culture. 

Many books, of course, have been consulted in the 
preparation of this : but it is not felt that particular 
obligation need be acknowledged to other than Whitney's 
Language and St^idy of Language^ Latham's English 
Language^ Marsh's Lectures on the English Language, 
Bain's English Grammar, Morris's Historical English 
Grammar, Seeley and Abbott's English Lessons for En- 
glish People, White's Words and Their Uses, Mathews's 
Words, Their Use and Abuse, Hill's Principles of Rhet- 
oric, De Vere's /Studies in English, Trench's Study of 
Words, Max Mliller's Science of Language, and Earle's 
Philology of the English Tongue. 

It is my pleasing duty, also, to express thanks to my 
friend. Dr. R. W. Stevenson, superintendent of the Colum- 
bus schools, both for his warm interest in my task and for 
some valuable suggestions. 

A. H. W. 

Columbus, Ohio, 

.Tune 21, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 
English — Past and Present, . . - . 1 

CHAPTER 11. 
Letters — 8ymbolization, . . . - .35 

CHAPTER III. 

Words — Parts of Speech, . . . . .55 

CHAPTER IV. 

Words — Inflections, . . . . ^ ,69 

CHAPTER V. 

Words — Formation, . . . . , .82 

CHAPTER VL 

Words — Transmutation. . . . . , • 98 

CHAPTER VII. 
Words — Logical Functions, .... 102 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Phrases - Logical Functions, . . . .111 

CHAPTER IX. 
Clauses — Logical Functions, .... 114 

XV 



XVI COJNTEJS^TS. 

CHAPTER X. 

The Sentence — Pkincipal Elements, . . • 119 

CHAPTER XL 
The Sentence — Suboedinate Elements, . . . 124 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Sentence — Independent Elements, . . . 132 

CHAPTER Xlll. 
The Sentence — Classification, .... 138 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Sentence — Capitalization .... 148 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Sentence — Punctuation, .... 158 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Sentence — Concord, . . . . . 206 

CHAPTER XVII. 
The Sentjence — Diction, ..... 229 

CHAPTER XVIIl. 
The Sentence — Order, . . . . .267 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



CHAPTER I. 
PAST AND PRESENT. 

They who ^Yill fight custom with grammar are fools.— Montaigne. 

Every existing form of human speech is a body of arbitrary and conven- 
tional signs for thought, handed down by tradition from one generation to 
another . . . the instrument ever adapting itself to the uses which it is to' 
subserve.— Whitney. 

A TRUE conception of the world as it is, requires that 
-^--^ it be viewed in the light of the past. The botanist 
who would know the economy of the developed tree, must 
revert to the plant and descend to the root. To under- 
stand well what English is, it is necessary to study some of 
its other forms and compare them with our own. 

We are first to dwell, therefore, for a little time upon 
the historical circumstances in the midst of which our lan- 
guage expanded to the light, since upon this retrospective 
survey will hinge much of the meaning of chapters to come. 

THE ARYAN MOTHERHOOD. 

When, for example, we compare the English ' mother ' 
with the Greek pri~-qp^ the Latin mater, the German mut- 
ter, and the Celtic mathair; when in Sanscrit is found 
sxoasri, and in Slavonic sestra, both meaning ' sister,' we are 
led to suspect the existence of a relationship, as between 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



members of one family. The received opinion is that this 
parent language was spoken somewhere in Central Asia, 
and that it spread from thence westward into Europe. 
Hence the designation Indo-European^ to denote collect- 
ively its varied offspring. 

The customary name for this mother-speech is Aryan. 
Many have been the channels through which the water 
from the well-head has descended to our own day. Only 
the principal will here be enumerated. 

1 . First we have Sanscrit, the sacred tongue of Brah- 
manism, dead these twenty-live hundred years, but still 
taught in the schools of the Brahmanic priesthood. In 
nearly every department it possesses an abundant litera- 
ture, epic, lyric, dramatic, religious, philosophical. Its 
earliest records, and, for philology, its most important, are 
the far-famed Yedas^ the Bible of the Hindus. We have 
not a few words which vary but slightly in their eastern 
and their western shapes. Thus: 



SANSCRIT. 


ENGLISH. 


SANSCRIT. 


ENGLISH. 


na. 


no, 


smi, 


smile. 


upa, 


up, 


nava, 


new. 


sama, 


same, 


swddu, 


sweet. 


yuvan, 


young, 


duMtri, 


daughter, 


stdras, 


stars. 


hhrdtri, 


brother. 



2. In close agreement with this is the Iranic, or old 
Persian, sometimes called the Zend, because in it is writ- 
ten the sacred book of Zoroaster, — the ZeJid-Avesta, or 
Scriptures, of the fire-worshippers. Its oldest monuments 
are the inscriptions — cut into walls of living rock — 
which record imperishably the names and deeds of Cyrus, 
Darius, and Xerxes. Without enlarging upon its affinity 
with English, we may notice, in passing, the analogy be- 
tween yare and ' year,' thri and ' three,' thrisata and 'thirty.' 



PAST AND PRESENT. 3 

These two languages, which alone have maintamed 
themselves at home, and which continued together long 
after they were separated from the common stock, form 
the Asiatic branches of our family. The others, with the 
clans that spoke them, left the cradle of mankind in the 
East, and in successive waves made their way toward the 
setting sun. 

3. The Celtic may come first of these. It exhibits 
two distinct and clearly defined branches, — the Gaelic, 
which comprises IrlsJi, Erse, and Manx, all closely allied; 
the Cymric, which comprises Welsh, Cornish and Arnior- 
ican. Once occupying a wide territory, its splendor has 
departed as the sceptre has been wrested from the Celtic 
race. For centuries it has been heard only in remote and 
inaccessible corners, separate areas, with no intercommuni- 
cation, — in the Scotch Highlands, where it will hardly 
survive the complete taming and civilization of the peas- 
antry^; in the wildest parts of Ireland, where it is rapidly 
fading; in the Isle of Man, where it is of but secondary 
interest, spoken by scarcely a fourth of the inhabitants; 
in tlie rough glens of Cornwall, where it has become 
extinct within the memory of the present generation; in 
Brittany of northern France, where it is likely to be 
crowded out; in tlie mountains of Wales, where, though 
passionately fostered, it seems doomed to extinction by a 
more thorough fusion of tlie people with the greater com- 
munity to which they form an adjunct. 

4. Next comes the Greek, some of whose varieties 
are, — the JEolic of Sappho, 600 B.C.; the Doric of Pin- 
dar and Theocritus, 600-250 B.C.; ih^ Ionic of Homer, 
Hesiod, and Herodotus, 1000-400 B.C.; the Attic of 
uEschylus, Plato, and Demosthenes, the language of 



4 ESSEis^TIALS OP E^n-GLISH. 

Athens, gradually gaining the ascendant, and thus becom- 
ing, about 300 B.C., the common language of cultivated 
Greeks everywhere. Out of this last has grown the 
Romaic, or Modern Greek, differing from the classic far 
less than might be expected. 

5. Then the Latin, the language of mighty Rome, 
dating from an unknown antiquity, but representing to 
us, in its familiar classic form, the speech of the learned 
and educated Romans within a century or two before the 
Christian era, — Horace, Virgil, Cicero, Caesar. It is trace- 
able with great accuracy, as it passes into the modern 
forms, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese ; and the 
extinct Proveng,al, once current in the south of France. 
These are frequently styled Romance languages, to com- 
memorate their Roman origin. 

6. Of less interest, because of its greater remoteness 
as well as its inferior historical importance and literary 
value, is the Slavonic, including the Servian, the Bul- 
garian, the Rohemian, and the powerful Russian. The 
last is in our day a literary tongue of considerable 
moment. Its spirit is aggressive. Holding supreme sway 
over the East, it is persistently pushing its outposts far- 
ther and farther into the West. 

7. Last and, for us, most important, is the Teutonic,' 
whose principal sections and subdivisions are: 

(1.) Scandinavian, embracing the Swedish, the Dan- 
ish, the Norwegian, and the Icelandic. This latter, 
transplanted by the refugees from Norway into that far- 
off and inhospitable island of volcanoes and ice, may be 
regarded as the ancestral type. It is usually called* iVbrse, 
in reference to its geographical position in the North. 

1 Popular, national. 



PAST Aiq-D PRESENT. 5 

Dweller in a remote and inaccessible region, its modern 
form differs little from its ancient. Its oldest and noblest 
monuments are the two JEddas, epic narratives of Scandi- 
navian gods and heroes, gathered or preserved to us from 
the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. These are the 
most primitive documents in the whole circle of Teu- 
tonic literatures. (2.) High German, which after ages 
of migration and strife, has become the common speech 
of the South Germans, and the literary language of the 
entire empire. Its claim to national acceptance dates 
from the upheaval of the Reformation, when the writings 
of Luther, multiplied and reinforced by the new art of 
printing, penetrated to all parts and classes. (3.) Loic 
German, the current speech of the low-lands of North 
Germany. Its leading offshoots are Gothic, spoken by 
the followers of Alaric and Attila, and preserved in a 
translation of the Bible by Ulfilas, 311-381 ; Frisian, 
unfortunately dying out under the sway of foreign rulers; 
Dutch, the vernacular of Holland, the literary use of 
which can be traced back to the thirteenth century, al- 
though dating chiefly from the sixteenth, when the coun- 
try wrested its independence from Spain ; Saxon, in 
which was written the Heliand = ' Healer' = ' Saviour,' a 
verse parajohrase of the Gospel narrative, extant in two 
manuscripts of the ninth century. Quite nearly akin to 
this last was the JEnglisc, or Anglian, spoken by one of 
the tribes of the same Northern region, — the Angles. 

The affinities existing between the different members 
of this group may be suggested briefly by a comparison of 
the Gothic augo with the Frisian age, the Saxon cage, and 
the English * eye '; or, of the Gothic deds with the Frisian 
dede, the Dutch daad, the Saxon daed, and the English 
Meed.' 



6 ESSENTIALS OE EKGLISH. 

The cardinal facts to be remembered are, that the 
main stream of Aryan migration has flowed toward the 
north-west ; that the nations who stand before us as the 
prominent actors ni the drama of history, have had a 
spiritual relationsliip and a common descent from the 
adventurous nomads who w^ere impelled from their 
Asiatic home toward the isles and shores of Europe ; 
that the language which was thus dispersed from one 
central community, at wide intervVis of time, over wide 
regions *of territory, formed by gradual divergence the 
Celtic, the Greek, the Latin, the German, the Scandi- 
navian ; that all these, thus derived, constitute a whole, 
a brotherhood, in which every member shares certain 
features in common with all the rest, while it is also 
distinguished from the rest by certain features peculiarly 
its own ; that the process of linguistic growth from a 
given original is illustrated equally by the oldest known, 
the Sanscrit, and the youngest born, our English. 

THE ARYANS IN BRITAIN. 

The native inhabitants of this island at the time of the 
invasion of Julius Caesar were predatory tribes of Celts. 
Their subjugation, thus begun, was completed, in the cen- 
tral and southern portion of the country, by Agricola, 
about 85 A.D. Then followed nearly four hundred years 
of Roman rule, during which Roman arts and civilization 
were known, towns and villas sprang up, theatres and pub- 
lic baths abounded, and the Latin gods had their temples 
in flourishing cities. 

But the Empire, it is well known, fiercely pressed by 
the savage hordes of the East, withdrew its legions to 



PAST AND PRESEN"T. 7 

protect Italy from the invader. A wave of barbarism 
swept, with desolating' effect, over the subdued and de- 
fenceless Britons. The unsubdued Celts of the moun- 
tainous and marshy districts descended upon them. 
Piratical adventurers, allured across the North Sea, rep- 
resenting in unknown proportions the races and tongues 
of Teutonic blood, began to overrun those more easily- 
accessible parts of Britain which the Romans had occu- 
pied. Instead of stationing garrisons they planted col- 
onies, and continued to emigrate. Among these various 
elements three stood preeminent, — the Jutes, the Angles, 
and the Saxons, marauders from Denmark and a wide- 
spread region south of it. The first (A.D. 447) gradually 
established themselves in Kent and the Isle of Wight; the 
second, in Essex, Wessex, Sussex, and Middlesex; the 
third, in Northumbria, East xlnglia, and Mercia. The 
Celt made a brave but ineffectual resistance for nearly 
three centuries. Slowly, painfully, he w^as absorbed or 
destroyed by the hardier Teuton, driven into the rugged 
fastnesses of Wales and Scotland, or across the channel 
into the western extremity of Armorica, to which was now 
given the appellation of Mretagne^ or Brittany.^ The 
several small independent states into which the conquerors 
separated were collectively known as the Heptarchy^ each 
ambitious of supremacy over the others. At length, in 
827, these were all made subject to Wessex, the kingdom 
of the West Saxons. However, their new habitation 
became known as Angle-land — land of the Angles — 
thereafter contracted into England. Thenceforth our 
insular history is chiefly concerned with, not Britons, not 
Romans, but Englishmen. 

1 Little Britain. 



8 ESSENTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

Hardly was the union accomplished when their fierce 
kinsmen from Scandinavia, known to us as Danes or 
Northmen, and long the terror of the Anglo-Saxons, 
began to effect large settlements along the eastern Eng- 
lish coast. The struggle continued during six centuries. 
Each was alternately paramount. At length the two 
breeds, so nearly allied in origin, consented to an amalga- 
mation which left the institutions and language of the 
country essentially unchanged. 

At this conjuncture both were prostrated in a common 
slavery and degradation by the Normans, then the fore- 
most race of Christendom. Originally Scandinavian rovers, 
these had wrested from the feeble heirs of Charlemagne a 
fertile province in the north of France, and there had 
developed a powerful government, having acquired more 
than the refinement of the conquered, a^d having adopted, 
with slight variations, their speech. By the battle of 
Hastings, 1066, not only was a duke of Normandy seated 
upon the English throne, but the yoke of alien tyrants 
was imposed upon the English population. They took 
possession, not as colonists, but as military masters. For 
two centuries the Saxon yielded unwilling homage. Then 
interests and sympathies began to blend. Without war 
or rebellion the parts were exchanged. Early in the four- 
teenth century the fusion was all but complete. The 
children of the soil, superior in vigor, and vastly more 
numerous, absorbed the victors, and it was soon apparent 
that a great people, inferior to none in the world, had 
been formed by the mixture of Teutonic branches with 
one another and with the aboriginal Britons. 



PAST AKD PRESEI?"T. 9 

ELEMENTS IN ENGLISH. 

Anglo-Saxon. — The ingredients which have entered 
into English nationality suggest at once the principal of 
those which have entered into English speech. Its blood 
and soul, its material substratum and formative principle, 
are native English — the Saxon or Anglo-Saxon of our 
forefathers. We are to regard this as the organic mother, 
whose stores have been augmented by foreign contri- 
butions. 

Celtic. — Least of these, and comparatively insignifi- 
cant, as respects both structure and vocabulary, is the 
Celtic, so thorough was the work of extermination. 
Ruined temples there are, and relics of idolatrous worship; 
but a few names of places and material objects mark 
nearly the whole extent of linguistic influence. Exam- 
ples are: 'Kent,' 'cart,' *rug,' 'gruel,' 'wicket,' 'wire,' 
'spree,' 'tantrum.' Most of the words from this source 
indicate that the Celtic women were kept as slaves, while 
their husbands, dispossessed of the land, were slaughtered. 

Scandinavian.— Nor did the pirates of Scandinavia — 
chiefly Danes and Norwegians — leave any considerable 
trace of their invasions. The change which they effected 
was not one of people, of customs, or of laws, but. tem- 
porarily, of masters, whose language was closely related 
to that of their subjects. Some terms, chiefly local, were 
introduced at this era; others subsequently, and indirectly 
through literature. One of the most frequent of the 
former is hy, meaning originally a farm, then a village or 
town. It survives in ' Grimsby '= the town of Grim; 'Der- 
by '=:Z>eorZ>y= town of deer; in' Whitby ' = white town; 
in ' by-law ' = a law of the town as distinguished from a law 
of the kingdom, and so finally a law of inferior importance. 



10 ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

French.— So called from the Franks. Teutonic tribes- 
men who conquered GauP in the fifth century, and, gradu- 
ally ceasing to use their native tongue, adopted that 
employed by the more numerous and more cultivated 
inhabitants of their new home, a language derived from 
the Latin. In like manner the Normans, a horde of un- 
couth barbarians, representing another branch of the Teu- 
tonic family, forgot their Norse vernacular, and along 
with French manners, learning and polity, adopted French 
speech, leaving traces of their own in a few geographical 
names. Thus the Norman-French — parent of modern 
French — was composed of three elements — the Oeltic, 
the Latin, and the Scandinavian. This it was that they 
set forth to propagate in England, a country occupied by 
a language similar to that which they themselves had 
foresworn. The result of the collision was truly compos- 
ite. The Saxons abandoned part of their vocabulary for 
that of their masters, and the masters a part of theirs, 
with nearly all their grammar, for those of their subjects. 
The importation thus begun with the battle of Hastings^ 
has continued to this day. Within a hundred years of 
that event, it is estimated, nearly one-third of the words 
used by the Saxon poets passed away. 

* Ermine,' 'countess,' 'court,' 'baron,' 'riches,' 'honor,' 
' poor,' ' feeble,' ' prison,' ' justice,' ' charity,' ' mercy,' were 
unknown till then. 'Prince,' 'peer,' 'throne,' 'sceptre,' 
'mantle,' 'gown,' 'boots,' 'palace,' 'mansion,' 'parlor,' 
'gallery,' 'couch,' 'carpet,' 'curtain,' recall the luxurious 
Norman aristocrat; while the oppressed Saxon lives in his 
' shirt,' ' breeches,' 'hat,' ' shoes,' ' cloak,' and ' house,' with 
its 'kitchen,' 'stool,' 'bench,' 'bed,' 'board.' The 'ox,' 

1 Now France. 2 The date of the Conquest will serve for practical purposes. 



PAST AKD PRESEN-T. 11 

*calf,' * sheep/ *pig' and ^deer' of the Anglo-Saxon herds- 
man became *beef,' 'veal,' 'mutton,' 'pork,' and 'venison,' 
when the flesh was smoking- on the table of liis lord. 

For two centuries French was the lano-uao-e of the 
court and culture. Norman settlers were spread over the 
countr}^, filling all ecclesiastical and civil posts. The pre- 
vailing form of literature was French poetry — legendary, 
heroic, and sentimental tales in verse. By the year 1300 
nine hundred words had become common with our writers. 
Henceforward, while many words of native English van- 
ished from mortal ken, French ones came in battalions. 
It has been said that almost every time we open our 
lips or write a sentence, we bear witness to the change 
wrought in England by the Norman Conquest. 

Latin. — This element is first referable, though but 
slightly, to the Roman conquest of Britain. The Celtic 
remained prevalent among the natives, and, after the with- 
drawal of the foreign legions, resumed its supremacy. 
The Latin contributions of this period are therefore quite 
limited, and chiefly geographical. The essential ones are 
colonial which survives in ' Lincoln '= Xm^^z colonia; 
castra^ which reappears in 'Lancaster,' ' Gloucester ' = 
Glevm castra; strata,^ which descends to us in ' Strat- 
ford ' and ' street.' 

The four centuries following the introduction of Chris- 
tianity, in 50G, brought in many words relating to ecclesi- 
astical matters, and others relating to objects introduced 
by missionaries. Examples are: 

1 Roman settlement. -' Camp. 8 Paved roads. 



12 



ESSEIsTTIALS OF EN'GLISH. 



LATIN. 


ANGLO-SAXON. 


MODERN. 


templum, 


temple, 


temple, 


chorus, 


cJior, 


choir, 


porticus, 


portic, 


porch, 


clausterium, 


cluster. 


cloister, 


monachus, 


munuc, 


monk. 


episcopns, 


bisceop, 


bishop. 


diaconiis, 


diacon, 


deacon, 


sandiis, 


sanct. 


saint, 


epistola, 


pistel. 


epistle, 


lilium, 


lilie, 


lily, 


rosa, 


rose, 


rose. 


pceonia, 


pionie. 


peony. 



From the battle of Hastings to the sixteenth century 
few words seem to have been derived from the Latin 
direct. Down to 1523 the additions of Latin origin, with 
inconsiderable exceptions, came through its offshoot, 
the French. Of this class are nouns in -our (ardour or 
ardor), -ier (cavalier), -chre (sepulchre), -eer (auctioneer), 
and words beginning with counter^ puy\ sur (as counter- 
act, purpose, surprise). In general, when words of classi- 
cal origin are greatly altered in the English spelling, they 
have not come directly from the Latin; as 'reason' (Lat. 
ratio, Fr. raison), ' obey ' (Lat. ohedire, Fr. oheir). 

With the diffusion of classical literature, made possible 
by the art of printing, the influx of Latinisms amounted 
to almost an inundation. Theology, science and the gen- 
eral vocabulary received large accessions. Says Thomas 
Wilson, writing in 1533: 

' The unlearned or foolish fantastical, that smell but of learning 
(such fellows as have seen learned men in their days), will so Latin 
their tongues that the simple cannot but wonder at their talk, and 
think surely they speak by some revelation.' 



PAST AND PRESENT. 13 

N 

And Sir Thomas Browne, in the next century, himself 

exceedingly Latinic: 

If elegancy still proceedeth, and English pens maintain that 
stream we have of late observed to flow from many, we shall, within 
a few years, be fain to learn Latin to understand English, and a 
work will prove of equal facility in either. 

The demands of science, industry and the arts have led 
to the unceasing introduction of words from this source. 
A few are selected by way of specimen: * abdicate,' * ab- 
hor,' * aggravate,' 'benevolence,' 'biennial,' 'calamity,' 
'focus,' 'genius,' 'axis,' 'basis,' 'crisis,' 'circumference,' 
'concord,' 'confess,' 'larva,' 'nebula,' 'calculus,' 'appa- 
ratus,' 'spectrum,' 'momentum,' 'premium,' 'medium,' 
' scholium,' ' locomotive.' 

Let the informed reader open a Latin author at ran- 
dom, and every page will remind him of our debt to the 
Latin language. Thus, in the first line of Virgil's ^neid, 

Arma virumque cano, Trojae qui primus ab oris, 

every word but one has, bodily or through some deriva- 
tive, entered into English, while there are not less than 
twenty-two in the following six lines. Single words have 
been almost incredibly prolific. Pono^ and posituin^ for 
instance, yield two hundred and fifty words; specio^ one 
hundred and seventy-seven; capio^ and captwn^ one hun- 
dred and ninety-seven. 

Greek. — It may not be amiss, before leaving the sub- 
ject of elements, to refer to the small admixture of Greek 
terms. Some of these, as the following, have become 
current by direct transfer: 

II place. 21 look. 31 take. 



14 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

XcoXipa (disease), Cholera, choler, choleric, etc., 

'^pi^iov (bounding sight), Horizon, 

Atyev (tree-moss), Lichen, 

KardpaxToq (rushing down), Cataract, 

IJapakoaiq (loosening). Paralysis, 

Ilapddo^oq (beyond belief), Paradox, 

Kw^djizfj (tester against gnats), Canopy, 

E-qpoq (dry), Sere, 

"ExazaGic, (standing outside). Ecstasy, 

'E'^epyela (in the work). Energy. 

Others have passed through the intermediate stage of 
a Latin translation, as: 



GREEK. 


LATIN. 


ANGLO-SAXON. 


MODERN. 


•/.Iripr/Mc^ 


clericus, 


cleric. 


cleric, 


diaftdlXo), 


diaholus. 


deofol, 


devil, 


iruffy.oTZoq^ 


episcopus. 


hisceop, 


bishop. 



The majority are technical, and find their home in the 
nomenclature of natural science. 

Miscellaneous.— Many foreign tongues, especially in 
modern times, have contributed to make up for us a con- 
siderable stock of exotics. From the Italian, for instance, 
we have 'bass,' 'soprano,' 'stanza,' 'tenor,' 'virtuoso,' 
'studio,' 'volcano,' 'grate,' 'group,' 'brigand,' 'opera,' 
'profile,' 'grotto,' 'brocade,' 'bronze,' 'cannon'; from 
Spanish — 'cargo,' 'embargo,' 'potato,' 'sherry,' 'torna- 
do'; from Portuguese — 'coil,' 'commodore,' 'porcelain'; 
from Turkish — 'coffee,' 'candy,' 'divan,' 'sash,' 'tulip'; 
from Arabic — 'alchemy,' 'alcohol,' 'alcove,' 'alkali,' 'al- 
manac,' 'algebra,' 'elixir '; from Hebrew — 'amelf,' 'Sab- 
bath,' ' cherub,' ' seraph '; from Persian — ' azure,' 'turban,' 
' shawl,' ' caravan,' 'balcony,' ' lilac,' 'orange,' ' emerald '; 
from Hindu — ' buggy,' ' calico,' 'jungle,' 'muslin,' ' san- 



PAST Ai^D PRESENT. 16 

dal'; from Chinese — *gong,' * satin,' 'tea,' 'nankeen'; 
from Malay — 'bamboo,' 'rattan,' 'bantam ' (fowl); from 
Polynesian — ' tattoo,' ' kangaroo ' ; from North American — 
' condor,' ' hammock,' 'hurricane,' ' maize,' 'moccasin,' 'to- 
mato,' ' tobacco,' ' tomahawk,' ' squaw,' ' wigwam.' The 
examples are sufficient to suggest the great assimilating 
power of English, and the wide extent to which it has 
come into contact with the languages of the world. 

DIALECTS IN ENGLISH. 

Language is composed of separate articulated signs of 
thought, each attached by a mental association to the 
idea which it represents, each obtaining currency only by 
the agreement of speakers and hearers. As by their will 
it is transmitted and preserved, so by their consent it is 
modified, altered, abandoned. It is undergoing constant 
adaptation to their needs, constant adjustment to their 
preferences. The one fact which, in different localities 
and epochs, gives it unity, is that all who use it may, to a 
considerable extent and on subjects of every-day interest, 
be intelligible to one another. Although a unit, it includes 
more or less numerous varieties, each of which — when 
differences are clearly marked — is a dialect. 

In the six hundred years before the battle of Hastings, 
Anglo-Saxon must have changed much. Moreover, those 
who imported it belonged, as we have seen, to different 
Low-German tribes, and their English descendants were 
long divided into several hostile nations. Hence, dialectic 
varieties were inevitable in the several regions of British 
territory. Accordingly, where the Northumbrian of the year 
800 said ' doema strong and longmod,' the West Saxon 
would have put ' dema Strang and langmod.' Compare: 



16 



ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 



WEST SAXON. 


NORTHUMBRIAN. 


MODERN. 


wi syndon ~ 

gi syndon \ with 

hi syndon 


ivi aren " 
' gi aren V = 
hi aren 


' we are 
- ye are 
they are 


And 








SOUTHERN. 

hen 
A.D. 8001 J uc 

^ deman 




NORTHERN. 

boen 
boec 
doeman 


MODERN. 

boon 
books 
deem 


' se, sea 
A. D. 900 2 J j^^ ;^g^ 




the, thio 
Ih, sio 


the 
I, she 


eower 




ewer 


your 


Faeder 
A. D. 970 3 J Icsecge 
^ Eor\>,' 


willan 
eow 
^paer 
rust is 


Fader es ivillo 
Ic cueo inhto 
eor'S,^ huer 

rust is 


Father's will 
quoth I to you 
earth, where 
rust 



The Midland counties differed from both these extremes. 

Thus: 

f Northern — we standes singande 
A.D. 1120 \ Midland — ive standen singende 
[ Southern — we standeth singindi 

These three were the leading dialects. The Northern 
lost political and social supremacy by the ravages of the 
Danes; the Southern, by the Norman Conquest; and all, 
including numerous subordinate ones, contributed to lay 
the foundation of Modern English by their gradual coales- 
cence, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with the 
East Midland, which exhibits the minimum of peculiari- 
ties. 

Dialectical differences are transmitted from generation 



1 Psalter. 2 Rushwortli Gospels. 

4 th. 5 10, 



Lindisf arne Gospels. 



PAST AND PRESENT. 17 

to generation. Further, the extent and meaning of the 
vocabulary are constantly varying. Britain is still a 
country full of dialects, some of whose peculiarities refer 
to the diversities of speech among the Anglo-Saxon 
tribes, while the rest are of every date of origin, from 
that far-off day to this. Imitations of these are frequent 
in literature. Thus Ben Jonson: 

Is it no sand? nor buttermilk? if 't be, 
Icli 'am no zive, or watering-pot, to draw 
Knots in your 'casions. If you trust me, zo — 
If not ^raforme 't your zelves.' 

Here the forms are Western or Southeastern. In the 
following they are Northern: 

Shew yoursell 
Tu all the sheepards bauldly; gaing amang hem. 
Be mickle in their eye, frequent and fugeand. 
And, gif they ask ye of Eiarne, 
Or of these claithes; say that I ga' hem ye, 
And say no more. I ha' that work in hand. 
That web upon the luime, sail gar em thinke.^ 

No small part of our American settlers were from the 
instructed class who brought with them a literature, read, 
wrote, and established schools. Hence, in the transfer of 
local dialects from England, these were assimilated to the 
central cultivated speech, just as the various nationalities 
which have contributed to our later population have been 
absorbed by the predominant English. In consequence, 
the language is far more nearly homogeneous here than 
across the Atlantic. Still, the concordance is not perfect, 
though we are bound together, by culture and sympathy, 
into one community with the mother country. We have 

1 Tale of a Tub. ^ Sad Shepherd. 



18 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

preserved some older words and meanings which she has 
discarded; have failed to adopt certain ones which she 
has originated; have originated others which she has not 
ratified, or cannot use. We are by no means free from 
variations among ourselves. The New Englander has 
inherited marked peculiarities of pronunciation and phra- 
seology that came with the Pilgrim Fathers. The 
' drawl ' of the Yankee has an equivalent in the * Suffolk 
whine.' The Southerner betrays his birth to a skilled 
observer. The Westerner has his local usages of phrase 
or utterance. The lower we descend in the social scale, 
the more numerous and prominent become the varieties. 
It should be remembered, however, that there are no 
dialectical differences between our representative authors 
and those of Britain. 

It would seem to have been made plain by the fore- 
going exposition that the term ^ dialect ' is but relative. 
It denotes the speech of a limited society, among other 
societies of kindred but somewhat discordant forms. 
But, from one point of view, every form of speech evi- 
dently sustains this relation. Each of the great divisions 
of the Aryan family is thus a ' dialect ' of it. Dutch, 
German, and Norse, viewed by themselves, are 'lan- 
guages'; but considered in their connection with each 
other and their common Teutonic parent, are ' dialects.' 
English, as distinct from French or Romaic, is a * lan- 
guage'; as referable to an original type, a 'dialect'; as 
seen in the different provincial varieties into which it is 
split up, it consists of an aggregate of 'dialects.' The 
standard is the literary English chosen as the medium of 
thought for culture. The reader will thus perceive th^t 



PAST Ai^D PRESEJy^T. 



19 



in speaking of any given tongue, we may apply the terms 
* dialect ' and ' language ' interchangeably. 



EARLY ENGLISH. 

The Anglo-Saxon may, with propriety, be called the 
English in its ancient form. We are now to indicate its 
important characteristic. To this end, compare the 



Latin 



moneo, 

monemus, 

inonenf, 

monebo, 

monere, 



r 



with their respective 
equivalents 



I advise, 
we advise, 
they advise, 
I will advise, 
to advise. 



Li the latter, the word 'advise' is invariable; and the 
changes of person, number, tense, and mood are denoted 
by ' I,' ' we,' ' they,' ' will,' and ' to.' In the former, the stem 
mone is constant, and the relations are expressed by 
the terminations -o, -mus, -nt^ -ho, -re. Pronouns and 
auxiliaries perform, in the one case, the office of endings 
in the other. In like manner, where we say — 

I burn, 

we burn, 

they may burn, 

burn, 
to burn, 

our West-Saxon forefathers could say rather more briefly — 

Ic haern-e, 
ive baeru-a]), 
hi baeru-071, 

haern, 

laem-an. 



20 ESSEl^TIALS or EKGLISH. 

Again : 

wulf-es = of a, wolf or a wolf's, 
wulf-e = to or for a wolf, 

sitt-o = I sit, 

drinc-o — I drink, 

])aes hearperes wis = the harper's wife, 

for \)am swege = for the sound, 

\>anca Oode = thank God, 
in Godes Suno — in Son of God. 

We here see that it was the custom of Saxon, as of 
Latin, to express by one word modes of action which we 
express by several distinct ones ; and to show the rela- 
tions between objects by changing the form of the name, 
where we retain the same form, or use a term additional, 
to reach the same result. Where, in short, we put entire 
words before a verb or noun, our Saxon ancestors put 
certain sounds, or suffixes, after it, besides varying the 
form of the adjective to suit the gender, number, and 
case of the substantive to which it related. This varia- 
tion of form to suit the offices which a word may have 
to perform in a sentence is what we mean by inflection ;^ 
and therefore the English of King Alfred's day, as com- 
pared with its present state when words remain for the 
most part unvaried, is said to be inflectional. 

MIDDLE ENGLISH. 

This was the period — from the Conquest to Chaucer — 
in which the vernacular speech, driven from literature by 
the Normans, fell into disorder, and distinct, entire words 
were beginning to do the duty of terminations. The 
leading dialects, each represented by literary works of 
some note, were struggling for mastery. Uncertainty, 

1 Latin inflectere, to bend into sliape. 



PAST AND PRESENT. 21 

confusion, fluctuation, prevailed. Large accessions of 
French were received into the vocabulary, tending to 
modify its pronunciation and orthography. People were 
finding out that so many grammatical forms obstructed 
free utterance, and therefore were ceasing to employ 
them. Articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, were replacing 
them. Inflectional decay was thus the chief of those 
verbal changes whose tendency was toward simplicity 
and consistency. 

NEW ENGLISH. 

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were the period 
of reconstruction, increasing influx of French derivatives, 
and rapid dilapidation of inflectional forms. About 1350 
the language took a fresh start, and was prized by high 
and low alike. There was now, in the fulness of time, 
a creator of standard English, — Chaucer, whose great 
poetical merit and social position, with the popular char- 
acter of his subjects, gave him an ascendancy in the 
rising literature, and enabled him to set the fashion. The 
following examples, but for the lingering vestiges of the 
antique, would be quite modern. From Robert Manning's 
Handlyng Synne, 1303 : 

Y shall vow telle as y have herde 

Of t>e bysshope Seynt Roberde 

Hys toname ys Grostest surname 

Of Lynkolne, so sey)? ]>& gest. story 

He lovede moche to here >e harpe; 

For mannys wyt hyt raaky)> sharpe; 

Next hys chaumbre, besyde hys stody, 

Hys harpers chaumbre was fast t>erby. 



22 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Many times be nygtys and clayys. 

He had solace of notes and layys. 

One askede hym onys, resun why once 

He hadde delyte yn mynstralsy: 

He answerede hym on J^ys manere, 

Why he helde l>e harper so dere: 

")?evertu of \)Q harpe, Jjiirghe skylle and rygt, 

Wyl destroye J^e fendes mygt, 

And to \>e croys by gode skylle 

Ys J?e harpe lykenede weyle." well 

From Legends of the Holy Hood, 1340: 

Godys sone |?at was so fre, 

Into bis world he cam, 
And let hym naylyn upon a tre, 

Al for \>Q love of man; 
His fayre blod J^at was so fre. 

Out of his body it ran. 
A dwelful sygte it was to se; 

His body heng blak and wan. 

From the Travels of Sir John Mandeville:^ 

In the tombe of Seynt John is noughte but manna, that is 
clept Aungeles mete. For his body was translated into Paradys. 
. . . And ye shalle understond, that Seynt Johne bid make his 
grave there in his Lyf, and leyd himself there-inne all quyk. And 
therefore somme men seyn, that he dyed noughte, but that he 
resteth there till the Day of Doom. And forsooth there is a gret 
marveule : For men may see there the erthe of the tombe apertly 
many times steren and moven, as there weren quykke thinges 
tindre. 

From the KnigMs Tale of Chaucer: 

Naught may the woful spirit in myn herte 
Declare a poynt of ray sorwes smerte 
To you, my lady, that I love most. 

1 1300-1371. 



PAST AXD PRESENT. 23 

But I byquethe the service of my gost 

To you aboven every creature; 

Syn that my lyf may no lenger dure. 

Alias, the woo! Alias the peynes stronge, 

That I for you have suffered, and so longe! 

Alias the deth! Alias myn Emelye? 

Alias, departing of our companye! 

Alias, myn hertes queen? Alias, my wyf! 

Myn hertes lady, ender of my lyf! 

What is this world? What asken men to have? 

Now with his love, now in his colde grave 

Allone, withouten eny companye. 

Farwel, my sweete ! f arwel, myn Emelye ! ' 

From the reformer WycliiTe:^ 

And Marye seyde mi soule magnyfleth the lord. And my spirit 
hath gladid in God myn helthe. For he hath behulden the meke- 
ness of his handmaiden ; for lo for this all generaeiouns schulen seye 
that [ am blessid ; for he that is mighti hath don to me greet thingis, 
and his name is holi, and his merci is fro kynrede into kynredis ; to 
men that dreden hym. 

From the poet Lydgate: ^ 

Sote herbers, with condite at the honde, 
That wellid up agayne the sonne shene, 
Lyke silver stremes as any cristalle clene: 

The burbly wawes in up boyling, 

Rounde as byralle ther beamys out shynynge. 

Amyddis the gardeyn stood a fressh lawrer: 

Theron a bird, syngyng bothe day and nyghte, 

With shynnyng fedres brightar than the golde weere; 

Which with hir song made hevy hertes lighte: 

That to beholde it was an hevenly sighte, 

How, toward evyn and in the dawnyng, 

She ded her payne most amourously to synge. 

1 1328-1400. 2 1324-1384. 3 1380-1440. 



24 ESSEl^^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

From Sir John Fortescue,^ chief justice in the reign of 
Henry VI: 

It is eowardise and lack of hartes and corage that keepith the 
Frenchemen from rysying, and not povertye; which corage no 
Frenchemen hath Hke to the English man. It hath ben often seen 
in England that iij or iv theves, for povertie hath sett upon vij or 
viij men, and robbed them al. But it hath not been seen in Fraunce 
that vij or viij theves have been hardy to robbe iij or iv true men. 
. . . There be therefor mo men hangyd in England in a yere for 
robberye and manslaughter than there be hangyd in Fraunce for such 
cause of crime in vij yers. 

From Caxton,^ the founder of the English printing- 
press: 

And, for to passe the tyme this book shal be pleasannte to rede 
in, but for to giue f ay th and byleue that as is trewe that is conteyned 
herin, ye be at your lyberte, but all is writon for our doctryne, and 
for to beware that we fall not to vyce ne synne, but to excercyse and 
folowe vertu, by whyche we may come and atteyne to good fame 
and renomme in thys lyf, and after this shorte and transytorye lyf 
to come vnto euerlastyng blysse in heuen, the whych he graunt vs 
that reygneth in heuen the blessyd Trynyte. Amen. 

MODERN ENGLISH. 

Antiquated words and forms of termination still occur, 
but from the first quarter of the sixteenth century we are 
hardly sensible that the books are more difficult to read 
than those of modern times. Obsolete phraseology dimin- 
ishes. A certain turn and structure, essentially of the 
present day, indicate the commencement of a new era. 
By the year 1600 the grammar and vocabulary, in every 
important sense, were fixed. Orthography was to become 
more uniform, the stock of words was to be much enlarged; 

1 1430-1470. -' 1412-1492. 



PAST AND PRESENT. 25 

but, in power to expand the intellect or touch the heart, 
the future was to add little to the language of Spenser, 
Hooker, and Shakespeare. We see how near is Sir 
Thomas More' to the standard of after-times. In his 
youth he is lamenting the death of ' queue Elisabeth, 
mother to king Henry the eight, wife to king Henry the 
seventh ' : 

ve that put your trust and confidence, 

In worldly ioy and frayle prosperite, 

That so lyue here as ye should neuer hence, 

Remember death and loke here vppon me. 

Ensaumple I thynke there may no better be. 

Your selfe wotte well that in this realme was I, 

Your quene but late, and lo now here I lye. 

Was I not borne of olde worthy linage? 
Was not my mother queene, my father kyng? 
■ Was I not a kinges fere in marriage? 
Had I not plenty of euery pleasannt thyng? 
Mercifull god this is a straunge reckenyng: 
Rychesse, honour, welth, and anncestry. 
Hath me forsaken and lo now here I ly. 

From Sir Philip Sidney, to Sir Francis Walsingham, 
1585: 

Be caws yow giue me lean to be thus bold, I humbli beseech 
yow the dai maj be observed, yt I maj preserue my creddit in these 
partes, and I dout not by Grod's grace to keep my self wth in my 
bowndes, and yet to proceed honorabli. And so I humbli take my 
leaue, praijing for your long and happy Lyffe. 

From Spenser's^ Faerie Queene: 

0, why doe wretched men so much desire 
To draw their dayes unto the utmost date. 
And doe not rather wish them soone expire; 

1 1489-15:35. J 155-2-1599. 



26 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Knowing the raiserie of their estate, 
And thousand perills which them still awate, 
Tossing tLem like a boate amid the mayne, 
That every houre they knocke at Deathes gate! 
And he that happie seemes, and least in payne, 
Yet is as nigh his end as he that most doth playne. 

From Mulcaster, 1582: 

I take this present period of our English tung to be the verie 
height thereof, bycause I find it so excellently well fined both for 
the bodie of the tung itself, and for the customarie writing thereof, 
as either foren workmanship can giue it glosse, or as home-wrought 
hauling can giue it grace. When the age of our people which 
now vse the tung so well, is dead and departed, there will another 
succede, and with the people the tung will alter and change; 
which change in the full haruest thereof male prove comparable 
to this, but sure for this which we now vse, it seemeth euen now 
to be at the best for substance, and the brauest for circumstance, 
and whatsoever shall become of the English state, the English 
tung cannot prove fairer than it is at this dale, if it male please 
our learned sort so to esteme of it, and to bestow their trauell 
upon such a subject. 

From Shakespeare's AlPs Well that Ends Well; date 
of composition about 1604: 

They say miracles are past, and we have our Philosophicall 
persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernaturall and 
causeless. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrours, ensconc- 
ing our selues into seeming knowledge, when we should submit 
our selues to an vnknowne feare. 

From one of Jonson's^ Masques: 

Nay, faint not now, so neere the fields of rest. 
Here no more furies, no more torments dwell, 
Than each hath felt alreadie in his brest; 
Who hath been once in love, hath proved his Hell. 

1 1574-1637. 



PAST A^D PRESEJ^'T. 27 

Up then, tmd follow this my golden rod, 
That points you next to aged Lethes shore 
Who pours his waters from his urne abroad, 
Of which but tasting, you shall faint no more. 

From Shirley's Jioi/al 3faster, 1638: 
.Tis not good to be busie 
In search of these unwelcome certainties; 
There's hope while things are clouded in suspition. 

. . . Into what 
Vaine thing would the severe apprehension 
Of greefe transforme us? 

From Sir Thomas Browne to his son Edward, 1679: 

I am very glad and blesse God to heare that you are prettie 
well agayne. Many hiere have had the like trouble, especially such 
as, to satisfie their thirst, drincke inordinately in hot wether or 
exceed in eating of fruits, or odd or mixed dishes, but such as ouer- 
come it haue vsually a more confirmed measure of health after it. 

CHANGES IN ENGLISH. 

We have seen our English speech, by gradual and 
accumulated alterations, grow from the Anglo-Saxon of 
Ciedmon and King Alfred into what it is at present, as 
the man from the undeveloped child. These intermediate 
phases have for the most part been illustrated. Our 
illustrations, indeed, have so far given a principal stress 
to external form, the visible and audible body; as in the 
slow corruption of oji ])7/ssum geare=.on \is gaer=:\is 
^ec?r='this year,' or haefdez=zhaefd—hadde^=^\\2id.'' Not 
only have formative elements thus worn off, words and 
phrases have passed forever from memory and use; as — 

Mine alderliefest ^ Lorde and brother dear. — Chaucer. 

We bangle'^ away our days — befool our time. — Burton. 

1 Dearest of all. '-' To waste lil tie by little. 



28 ESSEi^TIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

I have a husband and a two-legged one, 
But such a moonling ! ^ — Jonson. 

Which is sib"^ to Christ himself. — Langland. 

Sith'^ 'twas my fault to give the people scope. — Shakespeare, 

Death that took away a man so geason^ — Greene. 

But one of the most curious facts in the history of 
words is, that they are constantly passing temporarily out 
of use, and resuming their place in literature again. 
Thus down to the middle of the sixteenth century, the 
Saxon * reckless ' (formerly spelled retchless) was current, 
but fifty years later Hooker explained its meaning in a 
marginal note. A list of ' hard words,' compiled in the 
seventeenth century, includes, among others, ^ abate ' and 
^abandon,' which are marked as *now out of use, and only 
used of some ancient writers.' The political and religious 
revolutions of a country, as those of the Conquest and the 
Reformation ; its foreign relations, originating new objects 
and conditions of society, are the important sources of 
linguistic wealth. Trade, art and science, moreover, vary 
perpetually their materials and products. Their technical 
dialects are modified accordingly, and the familiar speech 
of everybody is more or less affected. Our language 
necessarily reflects the changes in our material condition, 
in our customs and institutions, private and public. How 
much of it, in these days of sun-pictures, railroads, steam- 
boats, telegraph, and telephones, would be unintelligible to 
one of the Elizabethan age, and how much of that period 
would have a foreign look to Chaucer! 

But these processes have to do — as clearly implied 
hitherto — not only with the external decay and growth 

1 A lunatic. 2 Related to. 3 Since. i Rare. 



PAST AND PRESEXT. 29 

of Speech, but with its internal content, its intended and 
apprehensible meaning. The outer and the inner, upon 
the whole, correspond; yet are they, to a great extent, 
independent of each other. The former may alter greatly, 
with no appreciable alteration of the latter; as, *eye,' = 
eage^ and * Tuesday '= :Z^«^es<:?av/ and conversely; as — 

The 'secret' top 
Of Oreb or of Sinai, 

where Milton uses * secret ' in the sense of remote, apart, 
lonely. Or — 

A valiant 'corpse,' where force and beauty met, 
in which Surrey means the body, not of the dead, as now, 
but of the living. And, ' Benjamin shall " raven " as a 
wolf,' — that is, devour greedily, steal or take away 
violently. Also — 

Few chimneys ' reeking ' you shall spy, 

where Spenser obviously means smoking. Shakespeare, 
again, means to flatter, or to praise, in, 

Laugh when I am merry, and ' claw ' no man in his humour. 
A * naturalist,' once a person who rejected revealed truth, 
is now an investigator of nature. ' Let,' which now means 
to permit, once had the very opposite sense. Thus Ham- 
let: 'I'll make a ghost of him that "lets" me;' that is, 
obstructs me. How pliant is the signification to the touch 
of the moulding and shaping mind may be seen in the 
derived uses of 'head,' not one of which is obsolete; as 
the ' head ' of a pin, the ' head ' of a bed, the ' head ' of a 
family, the ' head ' of a river, the ' head ' of a discourse, a 
' head ' of hair, a ' head ' of cabbage, ten ' head ' of sheep, 
to come to a ' head,' to make ' head.' Thus a most im- 
portant source of increase is the wonderful facility of 



30 ESSENTIALS OF E:N'GLISH. 

putting old words to new uses, as well as the assimilative 
power of taking up foreign or otherwise new words into 
healthy circulation. 

One of the most interesting facts in the mutability of 
words is their gradual degradation. Thus ' gossip '= God- 
siby having the same high origin as * gospel,' originally 
designated, as akin in God, all who jointly entered into 
the relation of sponsors for a child about to be baptized. 

* Pagan ' once denoted the persecuted worshippers of Venus 
and Jupiter, who retired from the city and village to for- 
ests and deserts — to the rural districts, the pagi. While 
paganus has sunk so low, its fellow conipaganus^^con- 
paganus has risen to our modern ' companion.' When the 
Roman slave was sent to his master's villa in the country, 
he received — not at all by way of reproach — the name 
villaneus. In Old English this word stood for a peasant, 

* villein,' * villen,' or ' villain,' then for the lowest serf, 
finally for an abandoned, iniquitous person. * Knave ' once 
meant no more than a lad or boy. Hence Wycliffe trans- 
lates Exodus i, 16: 'If it is a knave child, sle ye him,' etc. 
A * boor ' was once only a farmer. * Brat ' was offspring. 
Hence Gascoigne: 

Abraham's ' brats, ' brood of blessed seed, 
chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed. 

Not infrequently it happens that words or forms which 
are dropped from the classical or literary speech, find an 
abiding place in districts which have not kept abreast 
with the advances of culture. Thus, in parts of England, 
they still conjugate, *we singe/i,' 'ye singen,' 'they sing- 
en.'' Oiirn and hern were freely employed by Wycliffe. 
We are amused to hear one say 'I'm afeared^^ or 'I'll ax 



PAST A XI) PKESENT. 31 

him.' yet Shakespeare could say with grammatical pro- 
priety in his day — 

A soldier, and af eared 9 
Long before, Ca3dmon had sung — 

Folc waes afaered. 
Later, an unknown minstrel sang of the nightingale — 

Hide, thu axest mc, ho seidc. 
Owl, thou axest me, she said. 

Some gewerations afterward, Caxton wrote: 'A mercer 
came into an house and axed for meat, and specially he 
axed for eggs. 

All this suggests how completely the primitive sense 
of words may pass from the common consciousness, so 
that we may talk poetry, history, philosophy, wdthout ever 
suspecting that we do so. * Names and words,' says Robert- 
son, 'soon lose their meaning. In the process of years 
and centuries, the meaning dies off them, like the sun- 
light from the hills. The hills are there, the color is gone.' 
Thus ' bankrupt ' has ceased to recall the broken bench of 
the market-place where the Lombard merchants were wont 
to expose their wares for sale, and where, when one of 
their number failed, the rest set upon him, drove him out, 
and broke his bench to pieces. ' Tribulation,' which sets 
forth the lofty truth of the chastening mission of sorrow, 
does not ordinarily suggest the tribulum, the threshing 
instrument or roller, whereby the Roman husbandmen 
separated the grain from the husks. We speak of one 
as * capricious,' without thinking of the sudden, unex- 
pected springs and bounds of a goat — a capra. 

Change is perpetual, but not uniform. Our English 
changed at a far more rapid rate formerly than now. 



32 ESSEl^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Conservative forces have to-day attained a development 
and energy to which there was then only a distant ap- 
proach. Education more or less pervades the masses. 
Books are everywhere, assimilating and establishing, the 
written and spoken usages of all. The almost universal 
circulation of periodicals, made possible by modern facili- 
ties of transit and transport, tends to extirpate distinc- 
tions of dialect. The printing-press has stereotyped the 
language. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH. 

Essentially a living and a growing speech. Omnivor- 
ous, like man himself, drawing its nutritive material from 
all points of the compass. Anglo-Saxon in its sinews, 
nerves, and frame, — in grammar, which is its blood and 
soul; in the common and indispensable part of its vocab- 
ulary — the words which describe universal arts and 
modes of life; the specific names of natural products, of 
the natural wants and universal passions of man ; the 
designations of familiar and sensible objects, of the par 
ticular and the concrete. Thus, * father,' 'mother,' *hus 
band,' *wife,' 'friend,' 'kindred,' 'home,' 'cradle,' ' hun 
ger,' 'sorrow,' 'anger,' 'wonder,' 'bitter,' 'tear,' 'smile, 
'light,' 'heat,' 'cold,' 'rain,' 'snow,' 'storm,' 'fly, 
'swim,' 'creep,' 'crawl,' 'sight,' 'touch,' 'taste,' 'body, 
' head,' ' ear,' ' eye,' ' tongue,' ' lip,' ' chin,' ' merry, 
'nimble,' 'silly,' 'sulky,' 'surly,' 'idle,' 'wicked,' 'busy, 
'cunning,' 'acre,' 'barn,' 'horse,' 'cow,' 'grass,' 'cheap, 
'dear,' 'borrow,' 'buy,' 'sell,' and others of like import, — 
are Saxon. In general, monosyllabic terms are from this 
source, and therefore the articles, pronouns, pronominals, 
numerals, simple adverbs of time and place, the auxiliary 



PAST AI^D PRESEI!^T. 33 

and defective verbs. On the other hand, Tnost words of 
more than one syllable are of classical origin — Latin or 
Greek. We derive thence the great majority of names for 
things abstract. Thus Svalk,' 'run,' *fly,' which are spe- 
cific, are Saxon ; but the general idea which embraces all 
of them is expressed by a Latin word — * motion.' * Color,' 
which is from the Latin through the French, includes and 
generalizes, in like manner, all the varieties and shades of 
* black,' 'blue,' 'red,' 'green,' and 'yellow.' 

English is a reflection of the Anglo-American mind. 
As such, its words and phrases are instinct with the 
subtilty, depth, nobility, and beauty, that belong to 
English thought and life. It is vigorous, copious, and 
aggressive. Uniting by certain bonds of consanguinity 
the Romanic with the Teutonic, it is adapted, beyond 
parallel, to diffusion. Mosaic-like and heterogeneous, it 
has a choice of terms expressive of every shade of differ- 
ence in ideaSo If it lack somewhat the regularity and 
symmetry of the smoothly-clipped classical tree, it pos- 
sesses the rugged strength and endurance of the gnarled 

oak. 

'Who knows whither we may vent 
The treasure of our tongue ? To what strange shores 
This gain of our best glory may be sent 
T' enrich unknowing nations with our stores? 
What worlds in the yet unformed Occident 
May come refined with accents that are ours ? ' ' 

SUMMARY. 

The English language is the youngest and most pow- 
erful member of that fairest and strongest division of 
the Aryan family — the Teutonic. Like the people who 

1 Daniel, of the early days of Queen Elizabeth. 
3 



34 ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

employ it, it is composite. Among all the languages of 
Europe, it alone unites in happy marriage the tongues of 
the North and South. Its aboriginal element, its funda- 
mental structure, is Anglo-Saxon. Celtic, Danish, Latin, 
French, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, make up, in 
divers proportions, its inheritance of collateral wealth. 
Its history, like that of all human speech — like that of 
the people to whose uses it adapts itself — is a series of 
varying and successive phases. Its earliest written speci- 
men is of the seventh century. In the eleventh it is 
unsettled by the Norman Conquest. In the twelfth it 
falls into disorder, and a variety of dialects prevails for 
two hundred years, with no fixed standard. In the thir- 
teenth, thousands of the old words are lost, which are 
gradually replaced by French ones. In the fourteenth, 
the New English, long forming out of chaos, rules London 
and Oxford, and is spoken at Court. In the fifteenth, 
with nearly all its inflections gone, it is fixed by the 
printing-press. In the sixteenth, the Bible brings it 
home to all men, and the Reformation imports many 
Latin terms. In the seventeenth, plastic and copious, it 
reflects the Golden Age of English imagination. 

None will venture to pronounce upon its ultimate form. 
Mutilation, destruction, oblivion, pertain to its external 
shape and substance, while change and development con- 
stitute its real interior life. Any such corruption and 
detrition as resulted in the modern Romance tongues, 
however, would seem impossible to its future. 

'Stronger far than hosts that inarch 
With battle-flags unfurled, 
It goes with Freedom, Thought, and Truth, 
To rouse and rule the world.' 



CHAPTER II. 
LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION. 

"What surmounts the reach 
Of human sense, I shall delineate so, 
By likening spiritual to corporal forms, 
As may express them best.— Milton. 

TIKE the lower animals, man has a natural language 
-L-^ by which he is enabled to express joy, grief, fear, 
love, hate, and other emotions, intelligibly to all of his 
own species. As an instinctive being only, this would 
suffice for him, as for the various tribes of inferior crea- 
tures; but as he is also rational, it is quite inadequate to 
the demands of his twofold character. Hence, the neces- 
sity of speech — a system of expression composed of sim- 
ple sounds, differently modified by the vocal organs, and 
severally combined. 

Doubtless, oral language continued long to be the only 
medium by which knowledge could be imparted or social 
intercourse maintained. But with the enlargement of 
ideas and the improvement of intellect, methods were de- 
vised for attaining a more durable and more extensive 
vehicle of thought. The first attempt to record events, or 
to communicate information by permanent signs, is be- 
lieved to have been the use of hieroglyphics, such hiero- 
glyphics being either purely pictorial — the expression of 
visible objects in the external world, or symbolic — the 
conventional choice of some external object to represent 

35 



36 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



an act or an idea. Thus the most ancient Chinese charac- 
ters were conventional copies of material things, as — 



o 3 



SUN. 



AV\ 



I 



MOUNTAIN. TREE. 



^ 



DOG. 



^ ^ 



These signs could be combined, — the sun and moon, for 
light; a man over a mountain, for hermit; a mouth and a 
bird, for song; a woman, a hand, and a broom, for wife; 
an ear and a door, for listening; an eye and water, for 
tears: 



LIGHT. 



HERMIT. 



^ 



WIFE. 



LISTENING. 



u 



TEARS. 



To express abstract notions, use was made of analogies. 
For instance, a heart would symbolize the soul; a broom, 
loonian; the two valves of a shell-fish, /rze^itZs, 

The first hieroglyphics are considered to be the Egyp- 
tian, whether they give the full contour of the object, 
with all the assistance of vivid coloring; or are simply 
formed by lines which rudely suggest it. Their symbolic 
use was extraordinary. A few are exhibited in the fol- 
lowing table: 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION. 



37 



10 



11 



12 



I 
Sign | Representing 



^•^■v^•^\ 

/VVWVN 



ceiling with star, 



£53 



j\ 



A- 



waves 



flamins: censer, 



man with long beard, 
man raising hands, 
man leaning on staff, 
wagtail, 
canal, or road, 
roll of papyrus, 
legs walking, 
the same reversed, 
Nile-duck, 



Expressing 



night, obscurity. 



water, liquid, seas, rivers 
to wash ; freshness. 



fire, heat; zeal. 



gods, august persons, kings. 



adoration, invocation, 
prayer. 

old acre ; to end. 



smallness; vile, wicked. 



ways, ]ourneys; separa- 
tion: times. 



writings, books ; paintings 
to know. 



locomotion. 



return, send back, repel. 



birds ; flying insects. 



To this system, as a whole, the convenient term ideog- 
raphy \^ now applied. An ideographic sign — for exam- 
ple ►¥•, the symbol for life — might be used alone, to 



38 



ESSENTIALS OF EliTGLISH. 



indicate the particular idea and the different words con- 
veying this idea; or it could be made to stand for the 
sound of one of the words signifying Hife,' with a 
complete loss of the primitive sense. In this case the 
sign is said to be employed as a syllabic. Thus H< ^ 3 =^ 
a n k h = ' ear.' Here the duplicate sign, called a determi- 
native, takes no part in the pronunciation, but merely 
determines the meaning to be attached to the word pre- 
ceding it. The following syllables are illustrative of this 
radical chang-e: 



Sign 


Sound 


Sign 


Sound 


1 


^ 


at 


5 


n n 


ma 


2 


^» 


ur 


6 


VAAVW 
1 1 1 


na 


3 


V 


sa 


7 




neb 


4 


tb 


hem 


8 


^-^^/v^ 


ru 



This is the state of Chinese writing, as if the figure of a 
pear were made to do duty for the words pare, pear, pair, 
with signs to guide the reader to the sense which should 
be attached to the sound. 

To each object, again, might be given, as less cumber- 
some, the sound-value of the initial of its name. Thus — 

<Z> mouth = 'ro' = 'r' 
Either in this manner, or by some slowly effected transi- 
tion, would arise symbols which should represent immedi- 
ately, neither ideas nor combinations of sounds, but single 
sounds, their pictorial value being forgotten or disregarded. 
Such signs, answering to our English letters, would be 
alphabetic. The following are some of the principal: 



LETTEKS — SYMBOLIZATIOK 39 



11 f b k 






m n r s s kh 

yWVAAA "^^^^^^^ — 14— I W I W 

m 



m 



A very faint, but perhaps not an unprofitable, suggestion 
of these several modes of writing may be furnished by the 
following forms. The final character of each group, it 
will be remembered, is an ideographic determinative. The 
vowels, it should be added, were omitted at will in 
writing, and must be supplied in transcription. Let the 
words be resolved into their elements as ideograms and 
syllables or letters: 

tar 1 htax ^ snef ^ 

khensu * hunar ^ sanahem. ^ 



It thus appears that Egyptian writing was composed 
of a mixture of signs of two distinct classes: (1) ideo- 
graphic, each sign representing an idea; (2) phonetic, 
representing a sound, either [a) a complete sound, that 
is, a complete syllable (syllabic) ; or [b) a simple articula- 
tion (alphabetic). It was inevitable, with the increase of 
writing, that the unwieldy hieroglyphics should, for con- 
venience, be reduced to more and more abbreviated shapes, 
gradually departing so far from the original types as to 

1 Season. 2 Horse. 3 Blood. * Divinity. 5 Outside. 6 Grasshopper. 



40 ESSElifTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

appear altogether arbitrary. Thus Egyptian JoToT passes 
into Jj/ , thence into^^J^, regularized as cy. Very dim and 
vague is the resemblance of the modern Chinese to its 
parent picture: 



£^ 



ill.I=7K, ^^X 



m . r^ 



The development of a purely phonetic alphabet, with- 
out any apparent remnant of ideography, was reserved for 
the Phoenicians, who borrowed from the Egyptians, in its 
greatly simplified form, such portion of its symbols as 
they required for their own needs. From the Phoenician 
alphabet — in turn the source of almost every other, prop- 
erly so called, existing on the earth — was derived the 
Greek, and from this the Latin, the direct progenitor of 
our own. Each nation would change more or less not 
only the form but the value of the symbols received. 
Some it would reject as unnecessary because it never 
uttered the sounds corresponding to them, while for other 
important sounds in use no symbol would be provided, 
and the strange signs would be adapted to new ends. 
By some physiological peculiarity, one people, it is well 
known, will employ chiefly one set of organs in speaking, 
and another a different set. A sound easy of utterance 
and delightful to the one will be unpleasant if not impos- 
sible and unknown to the other. Hence, the Greek has 
no character answering to y, w, fj nor the Latin any 
corresponding to th, ph, kh (Greek (9, ^, /). Instead of *I 
vow by God that Jenkin is a wizard,' the Welsh would 
say *I fow by Got that Shenkin iss a wisart.' We pro- 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION". 



41 



duce, for purposes of comparison, the following tabular 
view of these transmigrations: 



Hebrew 
Names. 


Hieratic 
Egyptian. 


Akciekt 

Ph(ENICIAN. 


Earliest 
Greek. 


Later 
Greek. 


Latin. 


Aleph 


z 


^^ 


A 


A 


^A 


Beth 


^ 


9^ 


% 


B 


^B 


Gimel 


:2l 


77 


11 


r 


<C 


Daleth 


^ 


^^ 


A 


A 


I>D 


He 


tCD 


-w 


-^ 


E 


E 


Vav 


J/ 


n 


=1 


F 


F 


Zayin 


^ 


J ^ 


Z 


Z 


Z 


Cheth 





gfl 


B 


H 


H 


Teth 


o? 


0® 


® 







Yodh 


^ 


^^. 


^ 


1 


1 


Kaph 


^ 


7A 


H 


K 


K 


Lamedh 


/^ 


6 V 


A 


A 


H 


Mem 


3 


^-^ 


W] 


M 


AVM 


Nun 


> 


yL, 


^ 


V 


^N 


Samekh 


-N 


^f 


:£ 


— 




Ayin 
















Pe 


-5 


91 


n 


n 


rp 


Tsadhe 


^ 


^ Y- 


^A 




p 


Koph 


-Q, 


<^R 


9 




90- 


Resh 


9 


^ '\ 


1 


p 


r^R 


Shin 


% 


\A/ 


\ 


>" 


^^s 


Tav 


6 


+ X 


T 


T 


TT 



42 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



As was explained in the preceding chapter, during 
the fifth and sixth centuries England was conquered and 
peopled by pagans, Anglo-Saxons, from the forests of north- 
ern Europe. The written symbols which they brought with 
them are generally called rimes. The word riln in Anglo- 
Saxon means a * secret,' and the verb rynan means to 
* whisper,' indicating that the knowledge of these ancient 
characters was confined to a small class, very likely the 
priests. To the uninitiated they possessed magical pow- 
ers. Says the heroine of a Northern tale: 

'Like a Virgin of the Shield I roved o'er the sea, 
My arm was victorious, my valor was free. 
By prowess, by Runic enchantment and song, 
I raised up the weak, and I beat down the strong.' 




aiMn^nr 



RUNIC RING FOUND IN NORWAY. 



They are said to occur very plentifully on memorial stones, 
rings, and coins in Scandinavia, and occasionally in parts 
of Britain. 

When the Anglo-Saxons received Christianity from the 
Roman missionaries (597), they adopted the Roman alpha- 
betic writing, retaining of their own only those letters 
which were required to denote sounds that, had no 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION. 



43 



counterparts in Latin. These were runic }> (thorn), 
pronounced as in 'thin'; runic p (wen), and S (edh), 
consisting of a stroke drawn across the simple b (d), 
and expressing the sound of th in a similar word, as 
o'ber, * other,' dd15, 'doth.' The number ol letters, as well 
as their names, and the fanciful forms which some of the 
Roman assumed, will be apparent thus: 



SAXON. 


ROMAN. 


NAMES. 


SAXON. 


ROMAN. 


NAMES. 


S a 


A 


a 


ah 

















JB b 


B 


b 


bay 


P 


P 


P 


P 


pay 


E c 


C 


c 


cay- 


R 


? 


R 


r 


er 


D b 


D 


d 


day 


§ 


r 


S 


s 


es 


e e 


E 


e 


ay 


T 


■c 


T 


t 


tay 


F F 


P 


f 


ef 


U 


u 


U 


u 


00 


t 1> 


G 


S 


gay 


y 


y 






wen 


V h. 


H 


h 


hah 


X 


X 


X 


X 


ex 


I 1 


I 


I 


ee 


Y 


y 


Y 


y 


ypsilon 


L I 


L 


1 


el 


y 


y 






thorn 


com 


M 


m 


em 


:D^ 






edh 


N Jl 


N 


n 


en 













Later on, at the Norman Conquest and thereafter, the 
Norman to, and the Roman k, q, v, z (none of which had 
occurred but in stray instances, mostly in foreign words) 
and jy were added through Norman-French influence; 
while the runes (thorn and wen) and the crossed d unhap- 
pily disappeared, being replaced by u and th. It is 
noticed that the Romans did not retain the Hebrew (nor 
yet the Greek) names for the characters of the alphabet. 
A Roman, moreover, if he had wished to speak of his 
ABC, would not have said, as we do, a-bee-see^ but ah- 
bay-kay. 



44 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Thus we reach the conclusion that the symbols of our 
alphabet were originally hieroglyphics, and in that ulti- 
mate form were devised in Egypt, where, for convenience 
of writing, they were simplified; that in this shape they 
were borrowed by the Phoenicians, from them by the 
Greeks, thence by the Romans; and thus in their long 
course to us, dwindhng ever from the primitive picture,' 
and varying in power, they passed gradually from being 
the written expression of ideas into the written expres- 
sion of sounds; finally, that writing has been a gradual 
human discovery, whose secret was suggested by the in- 
stinct of imitation, being, not language itself, but merely 
a visible representation of it — an artificial addition which 
language receives as it grows up and becomes civilized. 

It has been well said that when we are speaking we 
are in reality playing on a musical instrument more 
perfect than was ever invented by man. It is a wind- 
instrument whose chords are muscles, stretched like 
strings across the top of the windpipe, against which the 
air from the lungs beats, causing them to vibrate. This 
vibrating makes sound, or voice, as may be illustrated by 
striking a tight-drawn string, held one end in the teeth, 
and the other in the fingers. The tube of this musical 
piece, through which the waves of sound pass, is sup- 
plied by the different configurations of the mouth. 

If the voice comes out through the mouth held 
well open, there is produced a class of words termed 

1 Observe English Q =Latin Q = older <p = Greek q = older y =Phcenician 
[^Cp (;^=Egyptian j^_ Or English S =old LatinS 5 ^= Greek 5= older 
5'=Phoenician NA/=Egyptian_ ^^=older 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION. 45 

vowels.' Thus, if the lips are wide apart, and the 
tongue in its usual flat position, we hear a, which seems 
the most natural position of the mouth in singing. Being 
neither more nor less than the qualities, or colors, of our 
voice, vowels are really infinite in number. For practical 
purposes, however, certain typical ones have been fixed 
upon in all languages, represented in English by the 
signs a, e, i, o, u. Besides these, there are many varie- 
ties, to express which we have only the five types. 
Each of the latter has in consequence several values, as 
in the words 'hall,' 'hat,' 'hate,' 'met,' 'mete,' 'fin,' 
'fine,' 'hop,' 'hope,' 'but,' 'full' 

The association of two vowels, each of which may be 
distinctly heard, forming together one syllable, is called a 
diphthong:'' 'fewd,' 'co^'l,' 'cloz^d.' The union of two 
sounds, only one of which is heard, or both of which 
represent a single elementary sound, is called a digraph:^ 
'pam'; 'hcml'; 'beat,' 'head'; 'freight,' 'celling'; 'yeo- 
man,' ' people'; 'coat'; 'gz^ard'; 'gi^se'; 'Hef '; 'moon'; 
'need.' A similar union of three is a trigraph, as 'hew' 
(=h<). A letter or combination which performs the office 
of another letter or combination, is conveniently styled 
a substitute; 'fiane' (=fe?<m = fe-oom), 'beaz^' (=:bo), 
'beai^ty' {=ihe-ict\). 

There is no reason why language should not have been 
formed entirely of vowels. There are words consisting 
of such sounds only: English 'eye,' 'aye'; Latin eo, I go; 
ea, she; eoa^ eastern; the Hawaian hooiaioai, to testify, 

1 Latin vocalis, vox, voice. 

2 Greek 6i's, double, and (f)deyyotJiai., to utter. 

3 Greek St<;, double, 7pa(f)w, to write. Such unions are generally known as 
improper diphthongs ; but to call that a fZiphthong whose sound is monothongal 
is an abuse of language, and creates confusion. 



46 ESSENTIALS OP ENGLISH. 

but for its initial h. Yet the unpleasant effect proves the 
want of something to supply the bones or framework of 
speech, — consonants, sounds modified by some inter- 
ruption during their passage through the vocal tube; 
hence letters in the pronouncing of which the breath 
is interrupted, and which, therefore, cannot be perfectly 
sounded without the aid of a vowel/ If the voice is 
held back, or checked, by the palate, tongue, teeth, or 
lips, one kind of consonantal sounds is made, — IHTltes or 
checks, as ^, ^, d, t, h, p. If the breath is emitted, yet 
partially stopped by the same organs, another kind of 
consonantal sounds is made, — spirants,'^ as /*, A, 5, z. 

Consonants may be classified according to the organ 
chiefly employed in forming them: labial, or lip-sounds, 
/), Z>, /", v; dental, teeth-sounds, J, t, tli; guttural, 
throat-sounds, ^, g ; nasal, passing through the nose, 
m, n^ ng; palatal, j, y. 

In comparing p and 5, t and d, for example, we find 
that p and t are pronounced with more effort than b and 
dy hence the former are said to be hard or sharp, while 
the latter are soft or flat. 

Consonantal letters and combinations, as in the case 
of vowels, frequently occur as substitutes: g for J, *ra^e'; 
c for s, * sacrifice'; f for v, 'q/'; ph for f or v, *philoso- 
phj ' and ' Stephen '; 5 or ti for sh, ^ sugar ' and * motion '; 
ew for u, ' new ' ; y for z, ' thyme ' and ' happy.' 

1 Hence the derivation from ttie Latin consonans, con, with, and sono, to 
sound. 

2 Latin spiro, to breathe. 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATIO]Sr. 



47 



MUTES. 


SPIRANTS. 




FLAT, 


SHARP. 


NASAL. 


FLAT. 


SHARP. 


TRILLED. 


Gutturals 


g 


k 


ng 




ll 

ch (loch) 




Palatals 


J 


ch 






y 

(yea) 




Palatal 
Sibilants 








zli 
(azure) 


sh 
(sure) 


r 


Dental 
Sibilants 








z 

(prize, rise) 


s 
(mouse) 


1 


Dentals 


d 1 t 


n 


th 
(bathe) 


th 
(bath) 




Labials 


1) r 


m 


V 

W (witch) 


f 
hw (v/hich) 





From this table c, q, and x are omitted: the first, because 
it can be represented by Jc or 6'/ the second, because it is 
equivalent to kw/ the third, because it is compound, 
k + s. 

In a perfect alphabet every simple sound would be 
represented by a distinct symbol. The English alphabet 
is both redundant and defective; for — excluding the 
three superfluous letters, c, q,x — it contains only twenty- 
three letters wherewith to denote over forty sounds. The 
same combinations, too, have distinct sounds, as oiigh in 
* bough,' 'cough,' 'tough,' 'though,' 'through.' 

Again, while theoretically no sound should be repre- 
sented by more than one sign, we have seen that the 
English alphabet is inconsistent not only in the simple 
characters but in the supplementary digraphs, while many 
letters are silent: 'toe,' 'soul' (o), 'psalm,' 'calf,' 'gnat.' 



48 



ESSENTIALS OF EN-GLISH. 



In the following tables, the regular powers of the 
vowels are the long and the short, marked [-] a,nd [vj] ; 
the others are occasional. When one letter of a digraph 
or trigraph is marked, it is to be taken as representing 
the sound of the combination, and the unmarked letter 
or letters are to be regarded as silent. 

VOWELS. 



SIGNS. 


EXAMPLES. 


SOUNDS. 


a e 


late, pr^^, femt, gauge, break. 


a 


a 


rat, random, pl«id. 


a 


a 


arm, palm, aunt, hearth, guard. 


a 


.a 6 


all, f6rm, haul, bought. 


a 


ae 


air, hear, ere, heir. 


d 


a 


ask, pass, dance. 


k 


e 1 


eve, peace, marine, f^'end. 


e 


6a 


end, leopard, friend; also in hury, 
many, said. 


e 


Jj 


fine, mire, sky, eje, quite, aisle. 


i 


1 y, 0, u 


ill, abyss; also in E'nglish, been, 
women, b^^sy. 


i 


0, ew, eau 


old, loaf, shotdder, dive; also in setv, 
heaii. 


6 


6a 


n6t, what, cough, kno«^ledge. 


6 


ob, Q, 11, u 


moon, food, lute, suit, dg, prgve; 






also in rheum, rude. 


oo 


dbo, 11 


wool, foot, woman, put, should 


ob 


u6 


but, done, flood, does, tdz^ch. 


u 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZ ATIOISr. 



49 



CONSONANTS. 



SIGNS. 


COMBINATIONS. 


SOUNDS. 


b 


rob, barn. 


b I 


ch, ti 


much, richer, question. 


tsh 


d 


dale, rider. 


d 


f, gh, ph 


farm, rough, jDhantom. 


f 


g. gh 


give, ghastly. 


g '\ 


h 


hall, home. 


h 


J, g, di 


jar, gem, soldier. 


J 


k, c, ch, q, qu 


keep, can, chorus, queen, quad- 
rille. 


k 


1 


left, melting. 


1 


m 


make, clamor. 


m 


n 


nail, entry. 


n 


ng 


linger, wrong. 


ng ^ 


P 


pay, paper, aptly. 


P 


r 


rip, trip, carol. 


r 


s, 9 


same, agid. 


s 


sh, c, ce, ci, 


shelf, emaciate, ocean, social. 


sh 


ch, s, si, 


chaise, tension, mensura- 




sci, t, ti 


tion, negotiation, nox- 
(= ks) ious. 




t, d, th 


tone, hissed, thyme. 


t 


th 


breath, author, athlete. 


th 


th 


smooth, mother, thine. 


th 


V, f, ph 


civil, of, Stephen. 


V ) 


w, u 


worse, queen. 


w 


hw 


when, while. 


hw c 


y. i 


young, alien. 


J 


Z, C, S, X 


maze, discern, his, Xenia. 


Z -'^^ 


zh. z, zi, s, si 


azure, grazier, rasure, fusion. 


zh 



50 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

In old writers ^ was often used for the affirmative ' ay/ 
which is pronounced nearly like it. Thus Shakespeare: 

'Did your letters pierce the queen? 
J, sir, she took 'em and read 'em in my presence. 

Y^ was frequently put for ^y and, conversely, i stood 
where now we employ y. Back in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, in an A B poem, 

*Y for I in wryt is set.' 

A conspicuous example is the word 'rhyme,' from the 
Saxon rim, number. Formerly, too, i and J were regarded 
as the same symbol. The distinction between them (in- 
troduced by the Dutch printers) is essentially modern. 
Uis derived from the Greek u. Its primary sound was 
that of 00 in cool. This changed to that heard in 'use,' 
probably under the Norman kings, by the attempt to imi- 
tate the inimitable French. In form and value, v was 
originally a variety of ?^y the first being the better 
adapted for writing on stone, the latter on soft materials. 
Once they were used indiscriminately. TF takes its shape 
and its name from the repetition of a "FJ this being the form 
of the Roman capital which we call IT. Most of these 
observations are illustrated by the following specimens 
from the English Bible, the first being of the date of 1611, 
the other some two hundred years earlier: 

My speach shall distill es the deaw, as the smal raine vpon the 
tender herbe, and as showers vpon the grasse. Because I wil pub- 
lish the name of the Lord; ascribe yee greatnesse vnto our God. — 
Deuteronomy. 

He seith these thingis, and aftir these thingis he seith to him 
[= hem = them], Lazarus oure freend slepith, but y go to reise hym 
fro sleep. Therefor hise disciplis seiden : Lord, if he slepith, he shal 
be saaf . But Jhesus hadde seid of his deth ; but thei gessiden that 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATIQIf. 51 

he seide of slepyng of sleep. Thaune therefor Jhesus seide to them 
opyinli, Lazarus is dead ; and y haue ioye for you, that ye bileue, for 
y was not there; but go we to hym. — John. 

Our remarks have more than once suggested that no 
nation preserves the sounds of its language unaltered 
through many ages, and that phonetic change must result 
in making modern English words different from their 
originals: as, * stone,' 'mine,' 'doom,' *day,' 'child,' 'bridge,' 
'short,' 'name,' 'cove'; Anglo-Saxon, s^«7z, mm, dom, daeg^ 
cild, hrycg, sceot^ ndma^ cbfa. The above passages would 
suggest, of themselves, whatever the cause, that words, as 
we have elsewhere considered more fully, are in perpetual 
process of growth and decay, as truly as men or books, so 
that, in general, the written speech of one period shall be 
an unknown tongue to another. 

Under their smallest combinations, the alphabetic ele- 
ments produce syllables y' syllables, properly combined, 
produce words ; words, properly combined, produce sen- 
tences j and sentences, properly combined, produce dis- 
course. And thus it is that to so few elements we owe 
that variety of articulations which has been sufficient to 
explain the sentiments of all the present and past genera- 
tions of men. 

Note I. — All known alphabets have failed, like our own, either 
by defect — from not representing all the simple sounds which are 
commonly distinguishable in speech, or by redundancy — in having 
more than one symbol for the same sound. 

Note II. — Philology and history agree in representing a to be 
the great fundamental vowel, of which i and w are successive weak- 
enings. 

Note III. — E (=a+i) and o {=a + u) were, in the earliest stages 
of phonetic development, diphthongs, but came by frequent use to 
be regarded, like a itself, as simple sounds having an independent 
existence. 



52 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Note IV. — It is usually said that w (like y) is a consonant when 
it is initial, either of a word or a syllable. By this rule, it is now a 
vowel where once it was a consonant, as in ' few,' which was formerly 
fea-wa. All through the Saxon literature y appears only as a 
vowel, and it was after the Conquest that the consonantal function 
was added to the vocalic. Y then superseded a decaying initial g. 
Thus, 'ye,' 'yes,' 'year,' 'yearn,' from the older ge, gese, gear, georn. 

Note v.— The long sound of the vowels is commonly indicated, 
in monosyllables, by a silent e at the end of the word, preceded by a 
single consonant ; as ' fate,' ' wrote,' ' type.' They have regularly the 
long sound if final in an accented syllable; as 'ba-sis,' 'le-gal,' 'tri-al.' 

Note VI. — The short sound of these vowels is generally indi- 
cated, in monosyllables, by the absence of silent e at the end of the 
word; as 'iat,' 'met,' 'pin,' 'not,' 'tub.' They have regularly the 
short sound in an accented syllable ending with a consonant; as 
'aban-don,' ' attent-i ve, ' 'exhib-it.' 

Note VII. — The irregularities of written English, especially its 
great number of silent letters, have created an active desire for uni- 
formity of method, in which the spelling should correspond to the 
sound of words; as if 'gnash ' should be written nash; ' laugh,' laf; 
'phlegm,' fiem; 'sword,' sord ; 'through,' thru; 'weigh,' wa. 
Efforts in this direction are known as the ' Phonetic Reform.' Such 
a reformation assumes either that pronunciation would remain fixed, 
or that spelling, considered as a mirror of speech, could be adjusted 
from generation to generation. All experience is against the for- 
mer, and the world would never consent to the latter. Severance 
between the spoken and the written language is involved in the 
nature of things, and is unavoidable except by such a continual 
change as would make the second as variable as the first. Its possi- 
bility aside, we see neither the necessity nor the desirability of the 
reform. The present fashion — for it is all fashion — is perfectly 
practicable, and is daily used with unconscious facility by the Eng- 
lish millions. Historical spelling, too, is no insignificant aid to 
etymological research. History, poetry, science, certainly derive an 
advantage from the preservation, in the foi'm of words, of the rem- 
nants of their elements and roots. Then, again, we have words which 
are vocally the same: 'wright,' 'write,' 'right,' 'rite'; 'weigh,' 'way'; 



LETTERS — SYMBOLIZATION". 53 

* whole,' 'hole'; 'pause,' 'paws.' Is it desirable that the distinction 
which spelling preserves between words of exactly the same sound 
should be destroyed? 

The phonetic craze is an old one. It began in England more 
than five hundred years ago. All its literature is in the dust bin ; 
and still there are reformers who forget that speech is under the 
control of a natural and irresistilole law, and that he who would 
reform successfully must himself be a creature of the revolution. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Tell which letters are vowels, and which are consonants; 
classifying the latter into checks and spirants: 

Reason, the power 
To guess at right and wrong, the twinkling lamp 
Of wandering life, that winks and wakes by turns, 
Fooling the follower, betwixt shade and shining. — Congreve. 

2. Point out the silent letters: 

We wither from our youth, we gasp away, 

Sick; sick; imfound the boon, unslaked the thirst, 

Though to the last, in verge of our decay. 

Some phantom lures, such as we sought at first. — Byron. 

'S. Discriminate the sounds of the vowels, give the class and 
sub-class of the consonants: 

A land that is thirstier than ruin; 

A sea that is hungrier than death; 
Heaped liills that a tree never grew in; 

Wide sands where the wave draws breath; 
All solace is here for the spirit 

That ever for ever may be 
For the soul of thy son to inherit. 

My mother, my sea. — Swinhurne. 

4. Analyze the words — that is, separate into their elementary 
sounds : 

How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps 
The disembodied spirits of the dead. 



54 ESSE]S-TIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

When all of thee that time could wither, sleeps 
And perishes among the dust we tread? 

For I shall feel the sting of ceaseless pain 
If there I meet thy gentle presence not; 

Nor hear the voice I love, nor read again 

In thy serenest eyes the tender thought. — Bryant. 

6. Ascertain the meaning and correct pronunciation: 

Orthoepy, accent, facile, extempore, exquisite, finale, exhorta- 
tion, envelop (noun), enervate, acclimate, address, isolate, adver- 
tisement, alias, ally, alternate {noun and adjective), alternate (verb), 
amenity, arable, area, Asia, aspirant, bade, billet-doux, Bismarck, 
blessed (adjective), Cairo, calm, Christianity, concord. Concord, 
condolence, conquest, deficit, dissemble, emendation, epoch, furni- 
ture, future, ghoul, granary, Heine, improvise, kettle, legislature, 
legislator, literature, luxurious, maintenance, mediocre, meliorate, 
microscope, naive, nauseous, oasis, pecuniary, perfume {noun), 
portemonnaie, precedence, precedent (noun), pretence, protege, 
resource, robust, short-lived, sociable, traveller, inquiry, wan, 
encore. 



CHAPTER III. 

WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 

Language and thought arc inseparable. Words without thought are dead 
sounds: thoughts without words are nothing. To think is to speak low; to 
epeak is to think aloud.— Max Muller. 

r I iHOUGH we have spoken of language figuratively 
-*- as an organism having laws of growth and an objec- 
tive existence, we have seen that in reality it is a congeries 
of individual signs, called words, which have their value 
and currency only by the agreement of speakers and 
hearers. We have seen that its history is connected with 
the whole mental and physical life of man, illustrating 
as well the inward sentiment as the outward action of a 
nation. As the Vital Force aggregates dead matter into 
an organic structure — as the thoughts entertained, the 
feelings cherished, and the purposes enacted, mould the 
body internally and externally, making it a manifestation 
of the conscious activities, — so Thought is the vitalizing 
determinating principle of language. Man speaks be- 
cause he thinks and is social. He invents words because 
he would exhibit and preserve, as in crystal shrine, his 
flitting notions. 

In the application of terms, therefore, we must appre- 
hend the nature and properties of the objects for which 
they stand. In the definition of terms, we must be guided 
by a critical examination of the things to which they are 
applied. In the classification of terms, we must group 
them by their resemblances in the work of expression. 

55 



56 ESSE]SrTIALS OF EN-GLISH. 

Were we to address to another only the separate words 
*life,' 'God,' Wirtue,' the hearer would naturally wait for 
an explanation, as if he should inquire: 'Well, what about 
them?' So, should we say 'is short,' 'is love,' 'is immor- 
tal,' the meaning would be in like manner fragmentary. 
But if we say, 

Life is short, 
God is love, 
Virtue is immortal, 
we shall in each case be understood, for the sense is 
complete. 

Because, in general, we do not think, and cannot talk, 
unless we use two or more words of certain kinds, and fit 
them together in certain ways, words — arranged class- 
wise, according to similarities of use — are called parts of 
speech. 

The combination of words by which we judge some- 
thing to be so and so, or assert that something is true of 
something,^ is called a sentence. Hence a sentence con- 
sists of such words as are necessary or sufficient to express 
a thought. Thus: 

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the night. — 
Beecher. 

How ridiculous is official power when the personal power of 
self-trust is gone! — Parher. 

Is he not wretched who enslaves the divine portion of himself, 
his soul, to the unclean appetites of his body ? — Plato. 

Let us now examine some such sentences as the fol- 
lowing: 

Hitch your wagon to a star. — Emerson. 

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind. — Shahespeare. 

1 Considering the assertive sentence as the regular and typical form, of which 
the imperative, the interrogative and the exclamatory are variations. 



WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 57 

There is na workman 
That can bothe worken wel and hastelie. — Chaucer. 

A bad woman may have a sweet voice, but tliat sweetness of 
voice comes of the past morality of her race. — Rushin. 

If we inquire 'what each loorcl tells us, we shall see that 
some words have like, and some have unlike uses. Thus, 

* wagon,' 'star,' 'suspicion,' 'mind,' 'workman,' 'woman,' 
'voice,' 'sweetness,' 'morality,' and race' tell us the 
names of things. But ' hitch,' ' haunts,' ' is,' ' can worken,' 
'may have,' and 'comes' are of quite another character. 
They are words put with names to tell what things do or 
are. ' Guilty,' ' bad,' ' sweet,' and ' past ' are words of 
yet another kind — they tell us of ichat sort of things we 
speak. Again, the words 'always,' 'wel,' and 'hastelie' 
are unlike the others — they tell us hoio things are done. 
'To,' 'of,' and 'but' join parts. 'Your,' 'that,' and 

* her ' stand for names, and so forth. 

A great many words in every language are used in the 
same way as 'star' and 'sweetness,' — to name things. 
A great many are used in the same way as ' haunts ' and 
' comes,' — to assert something. Consequently, just as 
from certain likenesses we put together certain flowers 
and call them roses, and from other likenesses put to- 
gether other flowers and call them lilies, — so from sim- 
ilarities in use we group words into classes, giving to 
each class a name. Thus, finding that many words name 
things — things of which we can think and speak — we 
place them in one class and call them Nouns;^ Proper^ 
when intended to distinguish one particular individual 
from the rest of the individuals of the same species; 

^From the Latin nomen, a name. 
2 From the Latin proprius, peculiar. 



58 ESSEI^TIALS OF EISTGLISH. 

Conimo?!, when applicable to all the individuals of a kind. 
While all the nouns of a language may be divided into 
proper or common, according to their use as particular or 
general terms, they may also, from another point of view, 
be divided into Concrete ' and Abstract."^ A Concrete 
noun is the name of a sensible object — one that may be 
seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard. The species are: 

1 . Proper Notins^ or names of individuals. 

2. Mass-nouns^ or names of masses; as *air,' 'ice.' 

3. Collective Nouns^ or names of groups ; as * army,' 
* flock.' 

4. Class-nomis^ or names of classes; as *man,' 'flower.' 
An Abstract noun is the name of an attribute when re- 
garded by the mind as an object of thought; as 'good- 
ness,' 'wisdom,' 'nationality.' The species are: 

1. Quality -nouns ', as 'bitterness.' 

2. Action-nouns ; as 'creation,' 'growth.' 

3. Condition-nouns ; as 'health,' 'decay,' 'sleep.' 

4. Relative-nouns ^ as 'superiority,' 'succession.' 
Thus while the one denotes the objective reality, the other 
denotes some attribute of it. The one relates more es- 
pecially to substances • the other, to ideas. Thus, also, 
logically speaking, there is a variety of nouns, though 
grammatically all are looked upon as names. 

Again, finding that many words tell us what things do, 
or assert that they are or exist^ we place them in another 
class and call them Verbs. ^ These may be subdivided, 
according to their use, into: 

1 From the Latin concretus, grown together, hence formed by the union of 
particles. 

2 Prom the Latin abstractus, separated, hence the attribute considered 
apart from the object to which it belongs. 

3 From the Latin verbum, word. The name was given to this class because 
it was thought that the assertive element was the preeminent word in the sen- 
tence. 



WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 59 



A 



Transitive,^ which express an action that terminates 
directly on some object, and which do not make complete 
sense without the specification of that object; as, The 
Danes hurried the monasteries. 

j^' 2. Intransitive, which express (1) a state or con- 
dition; (2) an action not terminating on an object: 

He sleeps (state or condition). 

He arose (action confined to the subject). 

This, however convenient for purposes of grammar, is 
not always a distinction in the nature of things; for the 
same verb, expressing the same action, can be either transi- 
tive or intransitive. Thus: 

The child sees the horse. 

The new-born child sees, but the kitten is blind. 

The explanation of the difference is that in the first case a 
special and single act is expressed; in the second, the act 
of seeing is generalized, that is, spoken of generally.*^ 
So Cowper says of painting: 

Blest be the art that can immortalize. 
Let it carefully be borne in mind, then, that the same 
verb may be transitive at one time and intransitive at 
another, according to its tise, — according as it does or 
does not take or obviously require the specification of an 
object upon which the action is immediately expended. 

We find, further, that some words, while they do not 
precisely name things, are yet a kind of substitutes for 
the ordinary names. These are put into a third class, and 
called Pronouns. '^ They are employed to prevent tire- 
some or awkward repetition, to distinguish the objects of 

1 From the Latin trans, over, and ire, to go, the idea being that the action 
passes over from the subject and affects some object. 

2 From the Latin pronomen, for a name. 



60 ESSEIiTTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

thought in their relation to the speaker, or to denote an 
unknown object of inquiry. Thus: 

Every man hath within Mmself a witness and a judge of all 
the good or ill that he does. — Seneca. 

Keep the divine portion of i^7??/se?/ pure. Look within. Within 
is the fountain of good; that is the life; that is the man. — Aurelius. 

How sure it is that if we say a true word, instantly ive feel it is 
God's, not ours, and pass it on. — Elizaheth B. Broivning. 

Who is the great man? He wlio is strongest in the exercise of 
patience; he tvJio patiently endures injury. — Buddha SaJcya. 

Pronouns are: 

^^ 1. I'ersoJial—'l,' Hhou,' 'he,' 'she,' and 'it.' So called 
because they refer to the 2^^^so?i speaking, spoken to, or 
spoken of. 

/ 2. Demonstrative — 'this,' 'that,' 'same,' 'such.' So 
called because they speak definitely of the thing named. 
* 3. Relative — 'who,' 'which,' 'what,' 'that,' and 'as.' 
So called because they usually relate, or carry us back, to 
some noun or pronoun going before, and already given, 
called the antecedent. 

' 4. l7iterrogative — 'who?' 'which?' 'what?' So called 
because they are used in asking questions. 

5. Lidejinite — 'some,' 'any,' 'many,' 'few,' 'all,' 
'both,' 'none,' 'each,' 'either,' 'neither,' 'other,' 'another,' 
'aught,' 'naught'; and the compounds of 'some,' ^any,' 
'every,' and 'no' wath 'one,' 'thing,' and 'body'; as, 
' soniebody,' ' anything,' etc.^ so called because, while they 
stand for names, they do not point out or particularize. 

Note I. — The personal pronouns are compounded with 'self,' (1) 
to form Reflexives; as, 'He hurt himself; (2) to express emphasis; 
as, ' He himself did it.' 

Note II. — The relatives are compounded with 'so,' 'ever,' and 



WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 61 

'soever,' giving a certain indefinite meaning, and having their ante- 
cedents often left unexpressed. ' Whoso is wise' means any person 
who is wise. 

Note III. — It is often used indeterminately; as, 

^Tis these that early taint the female soul. — Pope. 

Note IV. — '^Yhich,' as relative, applies only to things, a com- 
paratively modern restriction ; but, as interrogative, to either persons 
or things; as, ^^M^ich of you convinceth me of sin?' It is not 
the neuter of 'who,' as is often said. It really preserves for us the 
adjective lie (like) and the pronoun Jiwa (who). Early English, 
hwilic, hivilc, ivhulc, whulch, ivuch. 

Note V. — The Noun, the Pronoun, and the Verb are the three 
principal parts of speech. They alone can form sentences without 
the help of other words. ♦ 

Note VI. — The student must not fall into the error of thinking 
that the foregoing words, or others, belong invariably to the same 
class. Many of them, as we shall presently see, are freely otherwise 
used, and then must be otherwise classified. 

While the noun, the pronoun, and the verb are the 
essentials, they seldom make the whole of a sentence. 
We find that many words accompany them, and lean on 
them as on supports; as, 'the,' 'golden,' and 'brightly,' 
in, ' The golden sun shines brightly.' To extend the illus- 
tration, if we say simply apple, we mean apples in general, 
and the word represents all apples. If, however, we say 
three, some, or many apples, the word is restricted in 
respect of the number denoted — it includes fewer objects 
than before. If we say the, this, or that apple, the word 
is restricted not only to one object but to a particular 
one. If we say a large apple, the word is restricted in 
respect of the size, small apples being excluded. If we 
say a large red apple, the word is further restricted in 
respect of color, apples of any other color or size being 
excluded. Words that thus throw their force upon a 



62 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

noun^ or its equivalent, are called Adjectives/ The 
chief divisions are: 

1. Quantity adjectives — 'a,' 'some,' *many,' *ten,' etc, 

2. Quality adjectives — 'bright,' 'wise,' 'good,' etc. 

3. Demonstrative adjectives^ or those that particular- 
ize, — 'the,' 'tills,' 'former,' 'yonder,' etc. 

Here again v^e are reminded that a given word has not 
always the same use; for some of the above were pre- 
viously mentioned as pronouns. Before we can refer a 
word to its class, we must ever ask ourselves what duty it 
is doing. 

Note I. — Proper adjectives — those derived from proper names — 
are principally adjectives of quality, as the ' Socratio Method.' 

Note II. — 'The,' 'a,' *an,' are sometimes called J. r^icZes, — 'the,' 
Definite; and 'a' or 'an,' the Indefinite. 

Note III. — 'The' is a weakened form of the Anglo-Saxon \)aet, 
as 'an' and 'a' are descended from the numeral 'one.' Formerly, 
' an ' was used before consonantal as well as before vowel sounds. 

Note IV. — Greek has no indefinite article. Latin has neither 
the indefinite nor the definite. Filius regis may mean equally ' the 
son of the king,' ' a son of a king,' ' a son of the king,' or ' the son of 
a king.' 

In, ' He stepSy the verb may be variously applied; but if 
it be said, ' He steps proudly y these possible applications 
are limited to one — that is, the meaning is restricted or 
modified. Similarly in, ' The lark soars aloft (where ?), and 
always (when?) sings sweetly (how?).' Words thus used 
to mark the when, where, or how of verbs, are called 
Adverbs.^ We observe, also, that most adverbs may 
modify adjectives and other adverbs; as, ^ very good' (how 
good?), 'good to-day'' (when?), 'good Aere' (where?) 

iFrom the Latin ad, to, aixdjacere, to throw, = added to. 

2 From the Latin ad, to, and verbum, word=added to a verb. 



WOKDS — PAKTS OF SPEECH. 63 

Hence, an adverb is a word used to mark the lohen, where^ 
hoio, or lohy of verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. The 
chief varieties are: 

1. Xoca^. .(where?), .'below,' 'here,' * yonder,* ' thith- 

er,' etc. 

2. Temporal . . (when ?) . . ' never,' ' next,' ' twice,' ' al- 

ready,' etc. 

3. Causal. . (why ?) . . * therefore,' ' whence,' ' why,' 

' wherefore,' etc. 

4. Modal. . (how ?) . . ' badly,' ' wisely,' ' well,' etc. ; 

* surely,' 'indeed,' 'yes,' 'not,' 
'certainly,' etc. The former, in 
general, throw their force upon 
icords, the latter, more especially 
upon statements, showing how the 
thought is conceived. 

5. Intenswe . . (how much ?) . . ' little,' ' very,' ' quite,' 

'exceedingly,' etc. * 
The same adverb, it should be understood, may require 
different classification in different connections. Thus; 
He never yet no vilanie ne sayde. — Chaucer. 
The Loi*d is king, be the people never so impatient. — David. 
There are other words which express neither things 
(like nouns), nor activities (like verbs), nor qualities or 
limitations (like adjectives and adverbs), but only their 
relations. Such are called Prepositions.^ Hence a 
Preposition is a word used to connect a noun (or pronoun): 

1. With another noun (or pronoun); as, 'the day be- 
fore yesterday.' 

2. With an adjective; as, 'fond o/" books.' 

1 Latin prce, before, imd ponere, to place, indicating the usual position. 



64 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

3. With a verb; as, * Speak to me.' 

4. With an adverb; as * Never ^^7/ to-day.' 

Note I.— Prepositions connect words. 

Note II.— The noun (or pronoun) following the preposition is 
called the oljed. A preposition and its object are called an adjunct, 
ov prepositioT^al phrase. 

Note III.— Adjuncts, as we shall have further occasion to remark, 
are modifiers, being equivalent to adjectives or to adverbs, according 
to the part of speech on which they throw their force. Thus, ' be- 
fore yesterday, ' since it restricts the noun ' day, ' is an adjective ; * of 
books,' since it restricts the adjective 'fond,' is an adverb; 'to me,' 
since it restricts the verb 'speak' — that is, limits its possible mean- 
ings — is an adverb ; ' till to-day ' is an adverb restricting the adverb 
'never.' 

There are still other words which receive their gram- 
matical character neither from their form nor from their 
position, but from their connecting office. Such are the 
Conjunctions,^ whose principal and proper use is to join 
together different thoughts, though some of the most 
common (especially * and ') are also used to unite ideas. A 
conjunction, therefore, is a word used primarily to connect 
sentences together; or, secondarily, words employed in the 
same way in the sentence. If the student is doubtful 
whether a given word is a preposition or conjunction, let 
him consider whether it connects or can connect two 
statements. However, it should not be forgotten that 
the same word may be one and the other in different uses. 
Thus, He came before me (preposition); he came before I 
returned (conjunction). Also, The battle was against 
him, before and behind (adverb). 

There is yet another class of words which, while they 
can neither connect sentences nor enter into the construc- 

1 Latin con^ with, and jungere, to joiu,=joined together. 



WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 65 

tion, are nevertheless means of communication. These 
are called Interjections.' Hence an interjection is a 
word throion in to express some sudden thought or emo- 
tion of the mind; as, 'ah!' 'alas!' 'pooh!' 'hist!' 'hur- 
rah!' etc. 

Corresponding, then, to these eight general uses of 
words are the eight parts of speech. They fall into 
two general divisions: 

1. Principal — noun ^ pronoun and verb. 

i Modifiers — adjective, and adverb. 

2. iVccessory •< Connectives — preposition d^ndi conjunction. 

{ Exclamations — interjection. 

To these we may add, not coordinately, but derivatively, 
certain verb-forms called "Verbals, which, in addition to 
the use of the verb, have that of some other part of 
speech. These are of two kinds: 

1. Participle^ — verbal adjectives sharing the proper- 
ties of adjective and verb. 

(1) Imperfect ov Active — the form in -ing, which de- 

notes present action or state; 
as, 'singing,' 'giving.' 

(2) Perfect ov Passive — the forms in -ed and -en, which 

usually denote completed ac- 
tion, and mark a thing as 
acted on; as, ' wished, 'given.' 

2. Infinitive' — verbal noun, merely naming the action 
or state which the verb asserts. 

1 Latin inter, between, andjacere, to throw, = thrown between. 

2 Latin pars, part, and capere, to take. 

3 Latin injinitus, not limited — not limited to a subject, but naming the 
action in an indefinite way. 
5 



66 ESSEI^TIALS OF EJ^GLISH. 

(1) Root Infinitive — the simplest form of the verb ; as, 

' read, ' ' write. ' Its usual sign 
is the preposition ' to ' ; as ' to 
read,' 'to write.' 

(2) Participial Infi7hitive — the form in -ing; as * read- 

ing, ' ' writing. ' 

Note I. — The imperfect or active participle is often termed the 
present. 

Note II. — The participial infinitive is identical in form with the 
active participle, but differs from it in having the construction of a 
noun; as, ' By singing, birds delight us.' 

Note III. — Until the sixteenth century, the active participle 
and the participial infinitive had distinct endings. 

A.D. 1100 -ende -ung 

1250 -inde -yng 

1350 -inde (-inge) -yng (-ing) 

1500 -ing (e) usually -yng (-ing) 

1600 -ing -ing 

Note IV. — In Old English the root-infinitive was formed by a 
suffix ; as, lufi-an, to love. The sign ' to ' belonged exclusively to the 
germid, or infinitive of purpose ; as, (to) lufi-anne. Thus Wycliffe 
writes: 'And he suffride hem nat for to speke.' -An was first 
changed to -en, then to -e, which was finally dropped. -Anne passed 
through the several stages of -ene, -en, and -e. When the termina- 
tions were lost, the sign ' to ' remained. 

It remains to speak of a class of words joined to 
others to assist in expressing the relations no longer 
marked by inflectional endings. We have just seen that 
our Saxon forefathers never put *to' before the infinitive 
proper. Instead of 'to drink,' for example, they would 
say * drinc-a^.' As the suffixes fell into disuse, they were 
replaced by the preposition; and, instead of saying, *I 
like walk-en,' people began to say ^I like to walk.' Some 
verbs, however, were so often companions to the infinitive, 



WORDS — PARTS OF SPEECH. 



67 



I bade him 
I let him 
I made him 
I can 
I dare 
I may 
I must 
I shall 
I should 
I will 



► come = ■{ 



to come. 



to come. 



that it was not found necessary to insert 'to.' Hence we 
have such forms as — 

I ordered him 1 

I permitted him 

I compelled him 

I am able 

I venture 

I am allowed 

I am forced 

I am sure 

I ought 

I am resolved 

Most of these verbs have thus lost their original indepen- 
dence, and have sunk into mere indications of tense or 
mood. Words which are thus allies are called Auxiliaries. 
They are subdivided into: 

1. Verb-auxiliaries — 

(1) Emphatic — 'do' and its inflections. 

(2) Passive — 'be' and its inflections. 

(3) Tense — 'have,' 'had,' 'shall,' 'will.' ['should.' 

(4) Mood — 'may,' 'can,' 'must,' 'might,' 'could, "would,' 

(5) Infinitive — 'to.' 

2. Comparison-auxiliaries, used in the inflection of 
adjectives and adverbs, — 'less,' 'least,' 'more,' 'most.' 

Note I. — The word inflected by the aid of the auxiliary is called 
principal. Their combination is regarded as one — a composite word. 
Thus, ' might have been given ' is regaoied as one word — a verb. 

Note II. — Verbs always auxiliary — 'may,' 'can,' 'shall,' 'must'; 
verbs sometimes principal — 'do,' 'be,' 'have,' 'will.' 

Note III. — 'Less,' 'least,' 'more,' 'most,' have always a twofold 
use — auxiliary and principal. 

Note IV. — Verb-auxiliaries combine with 

1. Participles — imperfect, 1 am ivriting. 

2. Root-infinitives, T can (to) write. 

3. Infinitives and participles, I shall have written. 



68 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



EXERCISES. 



Give, with the reason therefor, the class and sub-class of the 
italicized parts. In the case of verbs, state whether they are simple 
or composite; if the latter, characterize the components. Refer, 
also, verbals and auxiliaries to their appropriate division and sub- 
division. 

1. I think, therefore I am. — Descartes. 

2. Can storied urn or animated bust 

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? — G7'ay. 

3. Young ladies, put not your trust in money, but put your 
money in trust. — 0. W. Holmes. 

4. From liberty each nobler science sprung, 

A Bacon brightened, and a Spenser sung. — Savage. 

5. A foot more light, a step more true, 

Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew. — Scott. 

6. Some put their bliss in action, some in ease: 

Those call it pleasure; and contentment, these. — Pope. 

7. Close beside her, faintly moaning, fair and young, a sol- 

dier lay. 
Torn with shot and pierced with lances, bleeding slow his 
life away. — Whittier. 

8. Overhead the dismal hiss 

Of fiery darts iji flaming volleys flew. — Milton. 

9. 3Ian, proud man, 
Drest in a little brief authority, 

Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heav'n 
As makes the angels weep. — Shakespeare. 

10. H, Perdition catch my soul 
But I do love thee. — Ibid. 

11. In youth alone unhappy mortals live, 

But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive. — Dry den. 

1 2. A Nonne, a Prioresse, 

That of hire smiling was full simple and coy. ... 
And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetishly 
After the schole of Stratford atte Bowe, 
For French of Paris was to her unknowe. — Chaucer.^ 



CHAPTEE IV. 



WORDS — INFLECTIONS. 



It is a remarkable fact that the modern languages known in literature are, 
perhaps without exception, poorer in grammatical inflections than the ancient 
tongues from which they are respectively derived ; and that, consequently, the 
syntactical relations of important words are made to depend much more on 
auxiliaries, determinative particles and position.— G. P. Marsh. 



W 



E have seen that Inflection is a change of form to 
correspond to a change of meaning. Thus, *The 



is required to denote more than one object; and this re- 
quires a corresponding change in the verb from * falls' to 
' fall.' ' The tree falls ' becomes ' The tree fell^ to indicate 
that the act of falling is not now going on, but took place 
in some time gone by. '■He struck me' becomes 'jT struck 
hirii^ to indicate that the one who inflicted the stroke in 
the first case, endures the stroke in the second. Similar 
changes are: 'speak,' 'speakest,' 'had spoken'; 'John,' 
' John's ' ; ' wise,' ' wiser,' ' wisest.' 

Inflections of the Noun and Pronoun are: 

1. Number-forms, which distinguish the object of 
thought in respect of number — Singular, one; Plural^ 
more than one. 

2. Gender-forms, which distinguish the objects of 
thought in respect of sex, — Masculine, male; Feminine, 
lemale; Neuter, neither; Common, either, as 'parent,' 
* child.' 



70 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

3. Case ^-forms, which show the relation of a noun or 
pronoun to some other word in the sentence, — Nomin- 
ative, usually denoting the office of the noun as subject; 
Possessive, denoting the office of the noun as possessive 
modifier; Objective, denoting the office of the noun as 
object of a verb or of a preposition. 

4. Person-forms, which distinguish objects of thought 
in their relation to the speaker, — First, the person speak- 
ing; Second, the person or thing spoken to; Third, the 
person or thing spoken of. 

Note I. — Anglo-Saxon, like all German dialects, had its strong 
nouns, which formed their plural by a change of the radical vowel; 
as, mus— ' mouse, ' my 8, — 'mice ' ; man, men; wimman, wimmen; gos= 
' goose,' ges= ' geese.' It had also its weak nouns, which required the 
aid of an additional syllable ; as, lord-es, hart-es (and hart-is), bean-es, 
lypp-es, huyldyng-es, whence our modern ' lords, ' * hearts, ' ' beans, ' 
'lips,' 'buildings.' After sibilants we still prefer the es; as in 
'churches,' 'foxes,' 'glasses,' which are less harsh and hard to pro- 
nounce than 'churchs,' 'foxs,' 'glasss.' A few words of Saxon 
origin change also their final / into v. Thus Mandeville's hnyfes, 
lyfes, and wyfes, become ' knives,' ' lives,' and ' wives.' By the side 
of the almost universal s is the early en, which survives in 'ox-en,' 
'brethr-en,' and is still popular in the South of England. Thus 
Chaucer and Spenser both have eyentor 'eyes,' and in Sackville's 
Mirror for Magistrates we read, — 

The wrathful winter, proching on apace 
With blustering blasts has all ybarde the tree7i. 

Note II. — Sex is a natural distinction; gender, a grammatical 
one. In English, the two coincide, as they philosophically should. 
But in Greek, to 0eTov (neuter) is used by ^schylus for the Divine 
Being. In Latin, gladius, a sword, is masculine, sagitta, an arrow 
is feminine; while in German the neuter weil) means 'woman.' 

1 Latin casus, falling, a term borrowed from the Greeks, who regarded 
the subjective form as erect, and the others as more or \e^^ falling away from 
it. Hence the terms ' oblique,' ' decline,' etc. 



WORDS — INFLECTIONS. 71 

So far as we distinguish gender by form, we express it in a few 
cases by terminations, mostly of Norman descent; as, 'heir,' 
'heiress,' 'god,' 'goddess,' 'actor,' 'actress,' 'duke,' 'duchess.' In 
other cases, by composition; as, 'bride,' 'bridegroom,' 'male,' 
'female.' Elsewhere by distinct words — distinct in appearance or 
in fact; as, 'brother,' 'sister,' 'boy,' 'girl,' 'earl,' 'countess,' 
'nephew,' 'niece.' We here see how nearly free is our language of 
all control in point of gender by the mere form of words. But, 
while, rejecting the mechanical attributes of gender, it has not 
abandoned the right to ascribe sex to inanimate objects — the uni- 
versal disposition of society in its primitive state, and of individuals 
in their infancy. The philosopher says of thunder, that it arises 
when the air is surcharged with electricity; but the poet says: 

The thunder 
Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage. 
Perhaps has spent liis shafts. — Hilton. 

Logic says of love, that ' it is one of the affections ' ; imagination 
says: 

Love in my bosom like a bee 

Doth suck his sweet. 
Now with Ms wings Tie plays with me. 
Now with his feet. — Lodge. 

Some words significant of living objects, involve so little of the 
idea of intelligence or personality, with the sex so often unknown to 
the speaker, that they are frequently employed in a neuter sense ; as, 
'infant,' 'child,' with names of insects and irrational creatures. 
Thus Wordsworth : 

A little child, dear brother Jim, 
That lightly draws its breath, 
And feels its life in every limb, 
Wliat should it know of death? 

Note III. — Old English had quite an artistic fabric of cases for 
its nouns, — 

Nominative ^primarily subject of sentence, 

Genitive=modern possessive, in general, or preposition 'of and 
its object. 



72 



ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 



Dative = modern objective with to or for, 
Accusative = modern objective with transitive verb, 
Ablative = modern objective with hy or ivith. 

While the ^ises of words are the same, there has come down to us no 
case-/orm except the termination s (a remnant of the old ys, is, es), 
by means of which, with the help of the apostrophe to denote the 
elided vowel, we now form our possessives, or genitives. Thus : 

Hwaet is jjes Marines Sunn ? ^ 

And Cristess moder Marye was att tat hridalles saete.'^ — Orm. 
And when he in his chambre was alone. 
He down upon his heddis fete him sette. — Chaucer. 

But I say if any such armys be borne, thoos armys be of no 
more auctorite than thoos armys be the wich be taken by a mannys 
awne auctorite. — Dame Bernei's. 

While the pronoun, from its use as substitute, assumes the person, 
number, and gender of the noun for which it stands, its case is 
determined by its relation in the sentence — same, however, as the 
noun would have. Some pronouns still have special case-forms, 
which are descended from the ancient declensions : 

Singular. 



(I) 


(Thou) 




(He) 


(She) 


(It) 


Norri: Ic 


thu 




he 


heo 


hit 


Qen. mi7i 


thin 




his 


hire 


his 


Dat. me 


the 




him 


hire 


him 


Ace. mec, me. 


thee, the 




hine 


hi 


hit 




Plural. 






Nom. we 




ge 




hi 


Qen. user, ure 




eoiver 




hira (heora) 


Dat. us 




eow 




hem {heom) 


Ace. iisic, us 




eoiv 


ic, 


eow 


hi 





Whence we see that the so-called 'possessive pronouns' — 'mine,' 
'thine,' 'her,' 'our,' etc., — are nothing more than derivative forma- 



1 Who is this SBn of Man? 2 Feast. 



WOKDS — IN-FLECTIONS. 73 

tions of the personals, real genitives of the latter. We see, also, the 
Dative origin of 'him' and 'her.' Note again that formerly there 
was no singular ' you ' (eow). As early as 1503, ' yon ' and ' ye ' were 
employed regularly for the singular : 

Farewell my daughter lady Margarete, 

God wotte full oft it grieved hath my mynde. 

That ye should go where we shuld seldom mete, 

Now I am gone, and have left you behynde. — Sir Thomas More. 

In 1640 a writer of etiquette says: 'You should be used to 
persons of lesser rank. Thou and Thee to friends and superiors.' In 
the time of Shakespeare, ye began also to usurp the place of the 
Accusative. Thus: 

The more shame for ye ; holy men, I thought ye. — Henry YIII. 

And Milton: 

I call ye and declare ye now returned 
Successful beyond hope, to lead ye forth. 

Again, it can hardly escape observation that he, heo, hit, was really 
a demonstrative, like the Latin is, ea, ^6Z, = 'that man,' 'that 
woman,' 'that thing.' It appears, moreover, that the original geni- 
tive of it was his. Hence Mandeville: 'Of that cytee bereth the 
coutree his name. ' The modern ' its ' seems to have been introduced 
about the year 1600, and may have grown out of the somewhat 
anomalous use of 'it' simply for 'of it.' Thus: 'The loue and 
deuocion towardes God also hath it infaneie and hath it commyng 
forward in growth of age.' 

Note IV. — Strictly person-forms belong only to personal pro- 
nouns. Nouns are to be considered of the third person, unless in 
apposition ^ with a pronoun of the first or second ; as, ' I, John, am 
going'; 'Thou, John, must go.' 

Of the Anglo-Saxon inflections of the Verb, but few 
are left. The various circumstances of affirmation — now 
almost wholly expressed by auxiliaries — are: 

1 Latin ad, to, and ponere, to place = added to a noun or pronoun to explain 
it. 



74 



ESSENTIALS OE ENGLISH. 



Latin ^ 



amo 

amas 

amat 

ama?mis 
I amatis 
[ amant 



Saxon - 



English 



love 

lovest 

loves 

love 

love 

love 



1. Person — the form of the verb suitable to the 
person of its subject; as, *I ru7i,'' 'He runs,'' '■ Thou runn- 
est, or 'I a-m,' *Thou ar-t,'' 'He ^-5.' 

2. Number — adaptation of the verb to the changed 
character of the subject according as that is singular or 

plural; as, 'He is,'' ' They are,'' 'I was,"* 'We were.'' 
Thus, if -WQ except ' to-be,' the only inflectional endings are 
-St {-est), or -t, of the second person singular; and -s or 
'th of the third. The latter only in formal discourse; as, 
'He calleth.'' Now compare: 

lufige 

lufast 

lufath 

lufiatli 

lufiath 

lufiatli 

3. Voice — the form of the verb v^hich indicates, in 
general, whether the subject is itself acting, or is acted 
on; the first the Active Yoice, the second the Passive. 
' Caesar defeated Pompey ' (active). ' Pompey was de- 
feated by Caesar' (passive). 

4. Style: 

Ordinary — that most used in speaking and writing. 

Solemn — the forms in -st and -tli, obsolete except in 
poetry and sacred allusions. 

Emphatic — made by joining 'do' with the root-infin- 
itive; as 'I did study.' 

Progressive — indicating the continuance of the act or 
state; '1 am iiriting,^ '1 was running.^ It combines 
present participle of the verb with the variations of 
the auxiliary 'be.' 

Interrogative — used in asking questions, and common- 
ly formed by placing the subject after the auxiliary; 
as, 'Did he go?' 



WORDS — i:n^flection^s. 75 

5. Tense — the form of the verb which indicates the 
time ^ of the act or state, and the degree of completeness. 
The act or state may be spoken of as present, past, or 
future. Hence arise the 

Present Tense .... I write 

Past Tense I wrote 

Future Tense .... I shall {or will) write 

The act or state may be spoken of in respect to the 
degree of its completeness, or perfection. Hence arise 
the 

Present Perfect .... I have written 

Past Perfect I had written 

Future Perfect .... I shall have written 

The present and past, strictly, are the only tenses consti- 
tuted by inflection; as, 'I come,'' 'I came'' ; or 'I advise,'' 
* I advised."* 

6. Mood — the form of the verb which indicates the 
manner^ of the assertion. Thus: 

(1) John runs, ran, will run. 

(2) John may run, might run, 7nust run. 

(3) If John 7'un, should he run, would that he might run! 

(4) John, run/ 

In (1) the running is said to be actually taking place in 
the present, or to have really taken place in time gone by, 
or surely to take place in time to come. In (2) and (3) 
the running is asserted as possible or necessary, contingent 
or desired. In (4) the running is commanded. Corre- 
sponding to these several ways of making an assertion, 
there arise the 



1 Latin for 'time ' is tempiis, whence the French temps, and from tlie latter 
our 'tense.' 

2 Latin modus. 



76 ESSEN'TIALS OF EJ;rGLISH. 

Indicative'^ Mood, which asserts 2^ fact. 

PotentiaV Mood, which asserts the necessity or con- 
tingency of the fact. 

Imperative^ Mood, which asserts the loill of the 
speaker. 

Note I. — To bring together all the forms of the verb is to conju- 
gate it. There are said to be in English two conjugations. — the 
Strong and the Weak. The first is exemplified in ' I shake, I shook, 
I am shaken'; the second in 'I love, I loved, I am loved.' To the 
one division belong verbs which form the past tense by changing 
the vowel, as ' speak,' ' spoke ' ; to the second, those which form it by- 
adding the somid of -ed, -d, or -t, as 'plant-ed,' 'move-d,' 'wep-t.' 
The principle of this nomenclature is, that the power of varying a 
word by internal change implies a certain innate vitality not possessed 
by roots capable of variation only by the addition of external vocal 
elements. The former mode of conjugation is considered the more 
ancient. The verbs belonging to it are all of Saxon origin. Deriv- 
atives, and words adopted from other tongues, belong to the latter 
— the New. This is now regarded as the regular, while the older — 
once the prevalent — is stigmatized as irregular. The tendency of 
English is to reject the Old or Strong in favor of the New, as in 
'help' {Jialp, liolp), 'climb' {domh, domhen), 'leap' {lap, luppen). 

Note II. — The Principal Parts of a verb are the present in- 
dicative (root), past indicative (known also as preterite) and the 
perfect participle; as 'write,' 'wrote,' 'written'; 'serve,' 'serve-d,' 
'serve-d.' These are called 'principal,' because the whole inflection 
of any A^erb is based upon them. 

Note III. — In synthetic languages, voice is shown by a distinctive 
termination; as Latin amat, he loves, and amatur, he is loved. But 
even Latin and Old English sometimes used auxiliaries, as we do 
now. Latin amafus eram—Ic waes gefyr?i geIufod=l had been 
loved. 

1 Latin indicare, to point ont definitely. 

2 Latin potesse, to be able. 

3 Latin imperare, to command. 



WORDS — INFLECTIONS. 77 

Note IV. — The progressive form of the past tense is known also 
as the imperfect. The indicative has six tenses. The potential has 
four: present and present perfect; whose signs are may, can, and 
must, or the root-infinitive, — 'It may rain,' 'It may have rained,' 
'If it rain;' past and past perfect., whose signs are might, could, 
would, and should, or the forms of the preterite — 

* If 'twere done, when 'tis done, then 'twere ' well 
It were'^ done quickly.' 
The imperative has but one tense — the command is necessarily 
present, the performance is necessarily future. 

Note V, — The central idea of the indicative is actuality ; of the 
potential, possibility, necessity, conditionality ; of the imperative, 
volition. The so-called subjunctivei as a separate mood, is so 
nearly lost in our language that we have excluded it from the classi- 
fication. It is a source of infinite confusion to maintain it, since (1) 
there is no peculiar form for it ; and (2) there is no peculiar meaning 
for it, it being indicative or potential in meaning according as it has 
the indicative or potential form. The subjunctive present may be 
regarded as a shortened future tense. 'If I go ' means in fact, ' If I 
shall go.' The past tense except in the verb to he is like the indica- 
tive: 'If I went,' 'If he went.' And there is no sufficient reason 
why ' If I were,' ' If he were,' may not be classed as potential. 

Inflections of the Adjective and Adverb mark compar- 
ison, of which there are three degrees: 

Positive — expressing- the simple quality, as 'sweet.' 

Comparative — expressing a greater or less degree of 
the quality, as ' sweeter.' 

Superlative — expressing the greatest or least degree 
of the quality, as ' sweetest.' 

The only inflectional endings are -er and -est. When the 
word is long or is a compound, euphony requires the com- 
parison to take place by means of the auxiliary adverbs 
'more' and 'most.' Thus 'soon,' ' soon-er,' 'soon-est'; 
'eloquent,' 'more eloc|uent,' 'most eloquent.' 
1 Would be. 2 yhould be. 



78 ESSENTIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

Note I.— Other formations are quite irregular: not 'good,' 
'good-er,' but ' bet-ter,' 'be-st,' from an old word, 'bet.' So 'bad,' 
'worse,' 'worst,' from the Anglo-Saxon 'wor,' 'wor-se,' ' wor-est.' 

Note II.— Anciently, our adjectives were declined for gender, 
number, and case. Thus tung-an god-um, for a good tongue, hmg- 
ena god-ra, of good tongues. So in Latin, pulcher puer, a beautiful 
boy, pulchra puella, a beautiful girl, pulchri pueri, of a beautiful 
boy, pulchrm pudlm of a beautiful girl. 

The Verbals, possessing in themselves no assertive 
power, have no person, no number, no mood. The parti- 
cipial forms in -eJi and -ed are combined with the various 
parts of the auxiliary ' be ' to make the passive voice. Be- 
sides the present and perfect participles, a compound 
participle is formed by prefixing to the perfect of a given 
verb the present of the auxiliaries 'be' and 'have.' '■Having 
written' (active), ^having been written' (passive), ^ being 
written' (passive and present). The root-infinitive has 
two forms to indicate the incompleteness or completeness 
of the act or state named, — present, 'He wishes to go? 
perfect, 'He is said to have gone? Both are changed to 
the passive regularly, — by combining the perfect participle 
with the variations of ' be'; as 'to be seen,' 'to have been 
seen.' 

Note I.— In Old English, the participle, like the adjective, was 
declined ; in modern, like the adjective, it is not declined. 

Note II.— As we have seen, the infinitive anciently had cases like 
a noun. Nom. and ace. lufia7i=to loYG^amare ; dat. to Iufianne= 
(for) to \oYe=ad amandum. 

Finally the Auxiliaries, being for the most part com- 
plete verbs and inflected accordingly, would seem to 
require no special notice. It may be of interest, however, 
to trace briefly the several which are used almost exclu- 
sively to express certain fixed tenses or moods. 'Will,' as 



WOKDS — IXFLECTIOXS. 79 

heretofore remarked, has not become quite obsolete as an 
independent. Thus Shakespeare: 

She 'willed me to leave my base vocation. 

Its past, or preterite, once icilede, became early wolede, 
and this led to ' would,' with the silent I. ^Shall,' from sceal, 
sculoUy present, and sceolde, sceoldon, preterite, appears to 
have meant originally to oioe. Hence Chaucer: 

For by the faithe I shall to God. 
Whence we learn the meaning and the derivation of 
* should.' In Wycliffe we read: 'I loolde ye schuld-en sus- 
taine a litil thing of my unwisdome.' 'May' — anciently 
either may or moiv, — is from the Saxon magcm. Wycliffe 
writes: 'The great dai of his wrath the cometh, and who 
shall 7now (be able to) stand?' The regular past was 
nioughty the ancestor of our ' might.' Similar is the history 
of 'can': present, can; past cuthe. The following are 
instances of its force as knoia : 

I lerne song, I can but smal grammere. — Chaucer. 
His fellow taught him homeward prively 
Fro day to day, till he conde it by rote. — Ibid. 

Such is the descent of ' could.' Another Anglo-Saxon verb, 
motan^ expressed the idea of necessity. Its past, difficult 
of pronunciation, was softened into most., the precursor of 
' must,' which now serves for past and present alike. The 
following are examples in point: 

Men mosten given silver to pore freres. — Chaucer. 

For as the fisse, if it be dry, 

Mote, in defaute of water, die. — Gower. 

It may not be improper in this connection to mention an 
apparently anomalous case from the early «yaM = Latin 
dehere. Present dJi ; preterite dhte. From these forms 



80 ESSENTIALS OF EJ^GLISH. 

arise the modern ' owe' and ' ought,' which have been sepa- 
rated by the twofold sense of their original, — I am, under 
a 7noral obligation, and I am a debtor. The separation 
has given to the former the modern preterite * owed,' and has 
made the latter hpth. preterite and present. Illustrations: 

All England dlite for to knowe. — Old Political Song. 
The knight, the which that castle aught. — Spenser. 
I owe to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me. — Wy cliff e. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Compose predicates (indicative mood) to the plurals of the 
following subjects : star, son, monarch, ox, hero, wife, mouse, goose, 
duty, enemy, he, it, I. 

2. Change your verbs into the potential mood. 

3. Change the following infinitives into imperatives: to write, 
singing, to study, to be active, striking, to be acquitted, to begin, to 
be true, speak, lament. 

4. Write subjects for the preceding, changing the verbs into the 
past indicative and interrogative form. 

5. Change the following into present, perfect, and compound 
participles: instruct, learn, say, bring, bite, dance, fight, praise, 
amuse, move. 

6. Change your compounds into the passive voice. 

7. Write subjects for the verbs in (5) changing the verbs into 
the future tense and progressive form. 

8. Change your verbs of (7) into the past perfect indicative 
passive. 

9. Compose three sentences expressing condition in the present 
potential; three expressing necessity in the present perfect po- 
tential. 

10. Compose a sentence containing a proper noun, a class, and 
a mass noun. 

1 1 . Compose a sentence that shall contain a demonstrative pro- 
novm, an interrogative pronoun, and a relative pronoun, using the 
same word as interrogative and relative. 



WORDS — INFLECTION'S. 81 

1 2. Compose three sentences, in each of which an adverb shall 
modify an adjective; and three, in each of which an adverb shall 
modify another adverb. 

13. Compose a sentence that shall have in it all the parts of 
speech. 

14. Compose a sentence that shall exhibit the different degrees 
of comparison. 

15. Compose six sentences with verbs which require an object, 
and six with verbs which do not require an object. 

16. Change the verbs of the first six into the passive voice. 

17. Form all the possible verbals from the following in both 
voices, and incorporate in sentences each of the verbals thus 
formed: sow, run, dive, pierce, be, have, purl, array, do, read, 
produce. 

6 



CHAPTER V. 
WORDS ~ FORMATION. 

He who calls departed ages back again into being, enjoys a bliss like that 
of creating. The philosopher does this.— Niebuhr. 

A LL inflections illustrate fundamentally the process of 
-^-^ word-making by combination. Thus our familiar 
*am' is the hereditary representative of an original as-mi, a 
verb and a pronoun, meaning ' be-I.' So 4s ' stands for as- 
ti, * be-that ', a form more apparent in the German ist, the 
Latin est, and the Greek lari. In like manner, the d of 

* loved ' descends from the past or preterite didy and ' I 
loved' means etymologically I love- did :=^ I did love ^= I did 
or performed a loving. Mi, ti, and did, once independ- 
ent elements, have sunk into mere grammatical signs, vrith 
the exception of the latter, vv^hich still maintains its stand- 
ing as a separate word. 

Again, the flnal member of ' careful ' is perfectly recog- 
nizable as the adjective ' full,' yet with the consciousness of 
its origin nearly lost, approaching the character of ous in 

* perilous.' The ly of * lovely' is nothing more than a meta- 
morphosis of our common ' like,' anciently lie, as in le6flic^=. 

* love-like '. In nearly all the constituents of our speech 
we can thus discover two elements, one of which conveys 
the central idea, while the other indicates some modifica- 
tion of that idea. 

These cases, in which extensibility of application and 
frequency of use have changed words of distinct mean- 

82 



WOEDS — FORMATIO:S". 83 

ing into non-significant appendages, are broadl}'- dis- 
tinguished from others like ' fear-inspiring,' * break-neck,' 
and ' house-top,' which are directly translatable back into 
the elements which form them. But all combinations run 
essentially the same course. There are couples which we 
hardly know whether to write separately or with the 
hyphen, as 'well-known,' *mother-tongue.' There are oth- 
ers so grown together that we seldom or never think of their 
dual nature, as ' himself,' ' herself.' Sometimes the connec- 
tion is so close, that the original parts are quite obscured. 
Such is *f ortnight' = 'fourteen-nights.' Such is * breakfast,' 
given to the morning meal because it broke the longest 
fast of the twenty-four hours. * Fearless ' was once fear- 
loose (free from fear), and Pope says, ' Be ware \heware\ 
of man.' 

We have seen elsewhere that while the vicissitudes of 
language often bring the same word to the office of des- 
ignating things widely different, the variation of signifi- 
cant content is not infrequently aided by a variation of 
phonetic form. Examples are: ' gentle,' * genteel,' and 'gen- 
tile'; 'owned,' 'owed,' and 'ought'; 'minute,' and 'min- 
ute ' ; ' corps ' and ' corpse ' ; ' can,' from ' ken,' ' to know,' 
etc. 

In general, there are four ways of making new words 
from given ones; (1) by formative suffixes, as 'gold-en,' 
'hand-some'; (2) by joining together distinct words, as 
' steam-ship,' ' white- wash ' ; (eS) by internal change, as ' man,' 
and 'men,' 'think' and 'thank'; (4) by prefixes, as 'be- 
numb,' 'a-stir.' The first method usually modifies the part 
of speech; the last usually modifies the sense: 'hunt,' 
'hunt-er'; 'destroy,' ' destroy-er '; 'destruct-ive,' ' de- 
structi ve-ly ' ; ' in-destructive,' ' in-destructible ' ; ' en- 



84 ESSEl^TIALS OF EIS'GLISH. 

throne,' * de-throne.' The fusion of parts frequently 
compels a change for the sake of euphony, as * col-lect ' 
for eon-lecty * dif-f er ' for dis-fer, * di-vulge ' for dis-vidge^ 
* an-archy ' for a-archy. The essential part of a derivative, 
its nucleus, may be called its base, or, loosely speaking, its 
root. As there may be an accumulation of subordinate 
parts, so there are primary and secondary bases, as in 
*truth-ful,' * truthf ul-ly,' 'un-truthful-ly.' 

While the accompanying lists of formative elements 
v^ill assist very greatly in discriminating natives from 
aliens, they will not afford an infallible key to the etymol- 
ogy of the words into which they enter. Though the 
strict rule for the construction of the compounds is, that 
all the parts of speech must be from the same language, 
English writers often permit themselves to make hetero- 
geneous combinations. Words formed thus from different 
languages are mongrels, or, which is the Greek for * mon- 
grel,' hybrids : ' sh eph erd-ess ' == English + Rom an ce ; * so- 
cial-ism' or ^ moral-ize '=Latiu + Greek. In ' bo-tan-ic-al,' 
the base and the primary suffix are Greek, and the second- 
ary suffix is Latin; while * botan-ic-al-ly ' adds a Saxon 
element. 

The important prefixes are: 

SAXON. 



a> 



on : a-back, a-bed, a-foot, a-fishing. 
from : a-kin, a-new, a-rise, a-wake. 
back : an-swer, a-bide, a-gain. 
over : a-right, e-i-ther (Anglo-Saxon d-ther). 
at = Old English mt: at-one, at-onement. 

1 Old English on. then an; supposed to have in 'a-go' the combination 
y-qone, old form of the participial prefix gre, and seen in the obsolete y-clept^ 
v-clad. 



WORDS — FORMATION^. 85 

af-ter = O. E. cefte^' : after-growth, after-ward. 

all = O. E. ecd : al-mighty, al-one, I-onely, al-so. 

be = O. E. be, bi= by : be-dew, be-take, be-friend, 

be-fore, by-word, 
for = O. E. for, Lat. per, through : for-bid, for-get, 

for-give. 
fore = O. E. fore, Lat. prcp, before : fore-cast, fore- 
father. 
forth —Q.^. forth: forth-coming, for-ward (O. E./or«A- 

weard). 
fro = O. E. fram : f ro-ward. 
in ~ O. E. in : in-come, in-sight, in-born, in-to. 
mis = O. E. 77218, wrong, ill : mis-deed, mis-take, mis- 
trust. 
*I1 = O. E. ne, na, nat, not: n-one, n-either. 

of = O. E. of, from, off : of-fal, off-shoot, 
on = O. E. on, upon : on-set, on-ward. 
out = O. E. 'dt : out-come, out-let, ut-ter. 
over = O. E. ofer: over-flow, over-coat. 

[" asunder, adverb from tico (Lat. dis): 
I O. E. to-brecan = to break to pieces; 

to = O. E, to <^ ' go to ' (in Hamlet) = go away. 

ordinary preposition: to-day. to-ward, 
here-to-fore. 
[ O. E. on, back : un-bind, un-do, un- 
lock. 



(). L, fin, not : un-true, un-trutn, un- 
(^ wise. 

under = O. E. tender : under-go, under-sell, under- wood, 
up = O. E. up : up-land, up-right, up-on. 
with ~ O. E. with, from wi-ther, against, back: with- 
draw, with-stand. 



86 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



LATIN. 

Let the student, by help of a suitable dictionary, trace 
the present meaning of these words back to the meaning 
of prefix and root. 

a, ab, ) :=from: a-vert, ab-rupt, abs-tract, 

abs before c and t. J abs-cond. 

ad, 
ac before c 

f 



ag " g 

al " I 

am " m 

an " 71 

ap " p 

ar " r 

as " s 

at " t 

ante 

bene 

bis [ 

bi j 

Circum = around: circum-vent, circum-scribe, circu-it. 



— to, at : ad-join, ac-cretion, af- 
firm, ag-gregate, al-lude, am- 
munition, an-nul, ap-plaud, ar- 
rogate, as-sist, at-tract. 



= before: ante-room, ante-diluvian, anti-cipate.' 
= well: bene-fit, bene-volent. 

= twice: bis-cuit,^ bi-lateral, bi-gamy. 



con 

col before I 



com " 

cor " 

CO 



h and 2^ 



vowel or h 



contra 

contro 

counter, French contre j 



=with, together: con-nect, con- 
temporaneous, col-lect, com- 
bine, corn-press, cor-rupt, co- 
eval, co-heir. 

= against: contra-diet, con-tro- 
vert, counter-feit. 



lExceptional form. 2 Modern French ; Jj^tm his-codum. 



WORDS — FORMATION. 87 

de = down, from, away: de-duce, de-press, de-throne. 

/ = apart, two, not: dis-join, dis-please, di- 

-,.^, » \ verare, dif-fuse. 

dif before / ) ^ ' 

ex N 

1 » J J / =:out of, out : ex-press, e-ducate, 

e beiore d, n, I, m, \. ' r j > 

r. n ^ \ e-lect, e-raanate, ef-face. 

extrai= beyond: extra-vagant, extra-ordinary, 
in 



= in, into, on, not: in-vade, il- 
lumine, im-press, im-merse, 
ir-radiate, em-brace, en-gage, 
in-nocent, ir-regular, im- 
piety. 



il before I 

im " p, 7n 

ir " r 

em and en 

(French modifications) 

inters O. Fr. enter, Fr. entre, between : inter-vention, 

inter-line. 
intro = within: intro-duce. 
male=:Fr. mcd, ill : male-diction, mal-ady. 
non =not: non-sense, non-entity. 
Ob ] 

OG before '^ [ _in front of: ob-stacle, oc-currence, of- fend. 
of " f I against: op-pose, of-fice. 
op " p J 

per =Fr. ^9C/r, through: per-ceive, per-form, par-don. 
post = after: post-pone, post-script, 
pre =Fr. 277'e, Lat. 2)rrp,, before: pre-cept, pre-face, 

pre-ach. 
pro =Fr. 2)or, pour, forth, forward: pro-pose, pur-pose, 

por-trait. 

re ) 

J- =hack, again: re-duce, re-deem, re-prove, re-n-der. 

retro = backwards: retro-grade, retro-spect. 



= under, from under: suc-cor, suc-ceed, suf- 
fer, sug-gest, sup-pose, sur-render, sus- 
pect, sum-mons. 



00 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

se ) 

I =: apart, away: se-cede, sed-ition, se-ver. 

semi =half : semi-colon, semi-circle. 
sub 

sue before c 
suf " / 
sue/ " (/ 
sum " 7n 
sup " 2^ 
sur " r 
sus " s y 
super =Fr. sur, above: super-fluous, sur-face. 
trans =0. Fr. tres, Fr. t7^€, across: trans-form, trans-late, 
tres-pass, treason, traverse. 

GREEK. 

an before vowels \ ^^^^^^out: a-pathy, an-archy. 
amphi=:on both sides: amphi-bious. 

ana =up to, again, back: ana-lysis, an-ec-dote, ana-logy, 
anti ) = opposite to, against: anti-dote, anti-thesis, ant- 
ant 3 arctic. 

7 ( =down, about: cat-aract, cata-strophe, cath-olic, 



, cat-egory. 

dia =:through: dia-meter, dia-gonal. 
di =two: di-phthong, di-sy liable. 
dys=ill: dys-peptic. 

, . , V =forth, out: ec-centric, ex-orcism. 

ex before vowels ) 

. „ , / =:in, on: en-thusiasm, em-phasis, 

em before m, o, or p, y 7 i , 

el " I ) el-liptical. 



WORDS — FORMATION. 



89 



eu = well: eu-logy, eu-phony. 

hyper = over, beyond: hyper-bole, hyper-critical 

ortho = right: ortho-doxy, ortho-epy. 

peri = round: peri-meter, peri-odical. 

..,,<. 1 [• =lovino': philo-sophy, phil-anthropy. 

p/iil betore vowel ) & r t^ j^ r- i j 

syn ^ 

si/l before I i =with: syn-tax, syl-lable, sym-bol, 

si/m ^'- b, m, p I sym-rnetry, sym-pathy, sy-stem. 

sy " s, z. J 

Some of the important suffixes are: 



en 



er 



or 



\ 



SAXON. 

d =: passive signification : dee-d (from do), see-d 

(from sow), bol-d, col-d, love-d. 
dom —doom, condition: wis-dom, free-dom, Christen- 
dom, 
participial or causative: burd-en (from bear), 

heav-en (heave), hast-en. 
diminutive: kitt-en (from cat), gard(yard)-en, 

chick-en. 
made of: flax-en, gold-en, wood-en. 
feminine: vix-en (from fox), 
agent: speak-er, mill-er, begg-ar, sail-or, bragg- 
ar-t, and (under Norman Fr. influence) 
law-y-er, cloth-i-er. 
instrument: fing-er, timb-er, wat-er (from wet), 
wint-er (from wind), 
fast = O. E. f(je8t, firm : sted-fast. 
ful = O. E. ful, full of: hate-ful, need-ful. 
head = O. E. had, hed, hod, state: God-head, live-li- 
hood. 



90 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

_ ( verbal ending: learn-ing. 
I diminutive: farth-ing. 
ish := O. E. ise, having the quality of: boy-ish, fool-ish, 

book-ish. 
1, ^e, e^, «/= instrument or diminutive: steep-le, sett-le 

(seat), britt-le, buri-al, id-le. 
less — O. E. leas, loose, negation: art-less, god-less, 
let = diminutive: stream-let. 
ling = diminutive: dar-ling (from dear), gos-ling. 
ly =0. E. lie, like: mean-ly, home-ly, soft-ly, like-ly 

( = like-like). 
m: bloo-m (from blow), sea-m (sew), strea-m (strew), 

stea-m (stew). 
ness = abstractive: wilder-ness, wit-ness, good-ness. 
ship = O. E. scipe, form, shape: land-scape, lord-ship, 
some =r participation in: dark-some, quarrel-some. 

/ agent: bro-ther, sis-ter. 
ther, te7'= } instrument: fea-ther (from fat, to fly), wea- 

( ther (from wa, to blow). 

ward z=z O. E. loeard, becoming, leading to: down-ward, 

home-ward. 
y = O. E. ig-. bod-y, hon-ey, an-y, blood-y, silk-y, 

(O. E. saelig). It has become oiv in holl-ow, 

sall-ow. 

LATIN. 

r condition: bond-age. 
affe = Lat. atieum, through \ , , , 

^ ■{ result: break-age. 

Norman Fr. fix- i. -x 

V location: hermit-age. 

al, el = Lat. alis: cardin-al, coronal, fu-el, jew-el, annu- 
al, equ-al, loy-al (=:leg-al), roy-al (=reg-al 
= Lat. reg-alis). 

an, ain, en, on = Lsit. anus: pelic-an, vill-ain, cert-ain, 
hum-an (=Lat. hum-anus). 



WORDS — FORMATION^. 91 

ant, ent^ =Lat. antem, entem: gi-ant, stud-ent, ramp-ant, 

pati-ent. 
ance, e;2ce=Lat. antia, entia: abund-ance, sci-ence. 
ancy, 6wc?/=Lat. cmtia, entia: brilli-ancy, excell-ency. 
and, end =Lat. cmdus, endus: vi-and, leg-end. 
ar, e7'j or =Lat. arius, arts: mort-ar, man-or, carpent-er, 

famil-iar, regul-ar. 
ary =:Lat. arzws: semin-ary, advers-ary, necess-ary. 

ate =Lat. atus: leg-ate, delic-ate, agit-ate. 

atic =Lat. aticics: fan-atic, lun-atic. 

ble, able =Lat. bilis, jjlex'. sta-ble, mov-able, dou-ble 

( = Lat. du'plex.) 
ee =Fr. 66, Lat. atiis-. legat-ee, trust-ee. 

eer, }< r =iFr. er, ier^ Lat. arius'. engin-eer, brigad-ier. 
el, —\j2it. ela, ellus: cand-le, bow-el, mors-el. 

en, hi =Lat. enuSy ena\ ali-en, verm-in, ven-om. 

er =Lat. eria: gart-er, matt-er. 

ess =:Lat. itia: distr-ess, rich-es. 

fy =Lat.j^care, Fr.y^er: edi-fy, rnagni-fy, signi-fy. 

ic =Lat. icus, ica ; Greek r/Mq: mus-ic, cler-k=: 

cler-ic, log-ic, phys-ic. 
ice =Lat. icius, icem'. nov-ice, pum-ice, jud-ge. 

icle =Lat. icidus: art-icle, part-icle. 

id =Lat. idus: ac-id, rig-id. 

ine, in =Lat, inus, inem: div-ine, fam-ine, orig-in, 

virg-in. 

ish =Lat. 6SC-0, Fr. iss: establ-ish, fin-ish. 

ism =Lat. isinus, Gr. i<7fxo<;: de-ism, fatal-ism. 

ist =Lat. ista, Gr. cffrrjq: bapt-ist, dent-ist. 

ive =Lat. ivits: act-ive, plaint-iff, pens-ive. 

ize =Lat. iza7'e, Gr. t^er^: civil-ize, fertil-ize. 

> Participial suffixes: Lat pa^i-gns (Nom.), pati-entis (Gen.), pati-enti (Dat.), 
pati-enf^m (Ace). 



92 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

1, ?e=Lat. uhis, e-lis, i-lis: peop-le, tab-le, frag-ile, frai-1, 
gent-le, cru-el. 

lent =Lat. Unties: corpu-lent, opu-lent. 

m, me=LiSit, mew. char-m, real-m, nou-n, volu-me, acu-men. 

ment=Lat. mentum: gar-ment, argu-ment. 

on, eon, zV>;z = Lat. onem, ionem\ apr-on, glutt-on, compan- 
ion, pig-eon. 

ose ) T ^ u • • 

\ =Lat. osus\ verb-ose, mor-ose, copi-ous, curi-ous. 
OUS ) ^ ? r ? 

\ N. Fr. erei'. fai-ry, poet-ry. 

( Lat. aria\ caval-ry, pant-ry. 
son =Lat. sionem: beni-son, ran-som, rea-son, veni-son, 

fashi-on/ 
t, te =:Lat. tus: discree-t, hones-t, mu-te, chas-te. 
ter =Lat. ter: mis-ter, mas-ter (=Lat. tnagis-ter), mus-ter. 
tery =:Lat. terium: mas-tery {=imagis-termm). 
tor =Lat. tor em: audi-tor, au-thor. 
tud.e=Lat. tudinem: multi-tude. 
lire =:Lat. lira: advent-ure, stat-ure, past-ure. 

f Lat. ia: famil-y, victor-y (Lat. victor-ia). 
Y z= } Lat. ium: stud-y, obsequ-y. 

( Lat. ous: spong-y. 
A careful inspection of the foregoing lists will shed 
much light upon the derivation of the parts of speech. 
Of nOTins, some are primitive, as 'eye,' 'hand,' 'hope.' 
In the comparison of languages, they may sometimes be 
traced to forms still more fundamental; but as far as con- 
cerns English, they are roots. Derived nouns are formed 
from other nouns, from adjectives, and from verbs, by 
prefixes, by internal change, chiefly by suffixes: ' bishop-ric,' 

1 Compare parallel forms from the Latin direct: fac-tion, ora-tion, bene-dic- 
tion. male-dic-tion. 



WOEDS — FOEMATIOK. 93 

*kind-ness,' 'song' (sing), 'press-man,' 'drunk-ard,' 'choice' 
(choose), 'life' (live). 

In a snnilar manner, derived verbs are extensively 
formed from verbs; as 'be-seech' (seek), 'burn-ish,' 'rise,' 
'raise,' 'sit,' 'set'; from nouns, ' be-guile, 'em-power,' 
'length-en,' 'gild' (gold), 'prize' (price), 'hitch' (hook); 
from adjectives, ' be-dim,' ' en-dear,' ' sweet-en.' 

Derived adjectives are formed from nouns, ' rag-ged,' 
'wood-en'; from verbs, 'win-some,' ' teach-able'; from 
adjectives, 'un-wise,' 'unfair,' 'year-ly,' 'ful-some.' 

Derived adverbs come principally from adjectives, by 
the addition of ly : ' careless-ly,' ' sweet-ly,' 'bitter-ly.' 
They are also formed from other parts of speech: 'per- 
haps,' 'a-part,' ' a-drift,' 'al(l)-ways '; 'al(l)-so.' Our 
adverbs, like our adjectives, owe their descent, almost 
without exception to other classes of words. ' Once ' and 
'twice' are but old genitives of 'one' and 'two.' When 
we say * It must needs be,' we employ the genitive of 
' need,' originally ' need-es.' A dative plural survives in 
'whilome,' another in 'seldom.' 'He-re,' ' the-re,' 'hi- 
ther,' 'thi-ther,' 'whi-ther,' are from demonstrative and 
relative pronouns. Sometimes indeed, the adverb con- 
sists of several words run together, as ' now-a-days,' 
' never-the-less.' Again there are a few which cannot be 
traced back, as 'up,' 'on,' 'off'; but we see with how 
much reason they may be supposed, in general, to be his- 
torically petrified cases. 

The chief prepositions are primitives; as ' of,' ' from,' 
'to,' 'for,' 'by,' 'with,' 'over,' 'under.' A few are derived 
from other prepositions, from nouns, adjectives, or verbs: 
'a-long,' 'a-round,' ' be-yond,' ' a-board,' 'be-tween' (by- 



94 ESSEI^TIALS OF Eis'GLISH. 

twain = by two), *with-in'; ^ ex-cept,' * concerning,' * not- 
withstanding,' which in form are participles. 

Conjunctions are either simple underived words of 
the language, as *and,' 'if,' or are appropriations from 
other parts of speech: 'since,' 'except,' 'that,' 'before.' 
' Therefore ' is a demonstrative pronoun with a preposi- 
tional suffix. 'But'=&e (by) -\- tit (out). 'Because' is 'by 
cause,' and ' than ' is from ' then,' itself an ancient accu- 
sative. 

A word, more specifically, in regard to those looser or 
less disguised combinations known especially as com- 
2)OU7ids. As commonly understood, they are made up of 
simple terms of independent significance: 'day-star,' 'sun- 
beam,' 'rose-tinted.' In general the first component 
qualifies the second. Note the difference between ' finger- 
ring' and 'ring-finger.' Usually the compound throws 
the accent on the first part. Thus ' Newport ' is easily 
distinguished from 'new port.' A 'mad house' would be 
a family all deranged; but a 'mad-house' is a house for 
receiving the insane. 

We have already seen, however, that compounds 
tend to lose the identity of their parts, thus sliding into 
derivatives; and that the latter really differ from the 
former only in their dimmed meaning. ' Browning ' = 
hroion-ing = dark or tawny offspring ; ' Egbert ' = eye-hright; 
'Benedict '=:^ei^^.e-<:/^c^^= well said; 'nostril'=:no5e-^Arz7/= 
nose-orifice; ' thraldom '= thrill-dom = drill-Judgment = 
drilling the ear of a slave in token of servitude; ' sheriff ' = 
shire-reeve; ' middle '= mid-deal; ' Massinger '= mass- 
singer; ' bridal' '=::^>'r^V/e-«/e, a reminiscence of the nuptial 
feast. Very aptly does Emerson say: ' Is it not true that 
language is fossil poetry, made up of images which now 



WORDS — FORMATION. 95 

in their secondary use have long ceased to remind us of 
their poetic origin ? ' 

Note I. — Derivation (a flowing down or from) inchides, there- 
fore, in its broadest sense, all processes by which new words are 
formed from given roots. Ordinarily, however, grammatical inflec- 
tions are not embraced in the terra. 

Note II. — Where primitive and derivative belong to the same 
language, there is usually a change of form, of class, and of import. 

Note 111.— Composition, as currently defined, is the union of two 
words which are separately significant. But logically, a derivative 
differs from a compound only in having a closer unity. In the one 
case, a constituent has degenerated into a non-significant append- 
age, more or less corrupted and altered ; in the other, it has thus far 
preserved, with measurable distinctness, its original character. 

EXERCISES. 

1 . Make derivatives of the following prefixes and roots, give the 
modifying force of the prefix, and name the resulting part of 
speech: a, ab, ad, anti, be, bene, circum, con, de, e, ex, en, for, fore, 
in, mis, ob, out, over, pre, re, sub, syn, trans, un, under, up, with; 
ground, side, vert (turn), rupt (broken), tain (hold), torn (cut), join, 
judge, mount, cuse (charge), fix, sure, tribute (give), arctic, pathy 
(feeling), lie, cloud, cause, fit (deed), volent (wishing), jacent (lying), 
spect (looking), stance (standing), fuse (pour), vene (come), moralize, 
tect (cover), appear, ease, tract, please, press, gress, mit (send), pec- 
torant (breast), pand (spread), fulgence (shining), rage, gulf, grave 
(scrape), tomb, bitter, brace (arm), get, sake (seek), tell, see, taste, 
discreet, noble, modest, patient, liberal, regular, flame, fleet (bend), 
print, radiate (to throw rays), spell, use, cur, fer, pose, trude (thrust), 
law, cast, sume (take), ceed (go), pel (drive), enter, sonant (sounding), 
view, bound, strain (draw), soil, cor (run), gest (bring), phony 
(sound), able, bar, current, happy, hand, mine, hold, right, start, 
root, stand, skirt, live, dispose. 

2. Join the following suffixes and roots, classify them, state what 
notion the suffix adds, and state to what part of speech both primi- 



96 ESSEI^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

tive and derivative may or do belong: ade, age, al, dom, ic, ion, 
ism, ess, ier, ine, ive, ix, ly, ment, er, ness, ship, ure, y, ate, ble, en, 
fill, ish, ous, some, fy, ize; hero, heir, create, abuse, operate, per- 
ceive (percept), adhere, chariot, visit, school, hunt, edit, widow, for- 
eign, stock, liiite, post, bond, parson, duke, king, poet, possess, 
precise, expand, despot, critic, heathen, case, punish, arm, bold, 
happy, moist, seize, modest, grocer, private (-acy), lunatic, nation, 
origin, part, music, affection, consider, change, honor, value, divide 
{divis-), accede, silk, wool, hope, play, lyre, adamant, boy, fop, fame, 
malice, pity, duty, contempt, tire, toil, mud, cloud, wealth, fabric, 
facility, vacant, grain (gram-), red, bright, ripe, glory, class, sign, 
right {recti-), special {sped-), modern, legal, familiar, botany, god, 
good, scarce, fearless, playful. 

3. Join into compounds : wind, head, mill, strong, school, state, 
alms, house, door, key, God, man, like, snow, white, keeper, time, 
slave, born, wine, bibber, stone, blind, woman, servant, catch, word, 
in, chief, commander, land, high, love, self, star, day. 

4. Classify the following compounds, then classify their mem- 
bers: red-breast, sing-song, dare-devil, handbook, rose-bud, draw- 
ing-room, spitfire, turncoat, instep, forethought, by-word, up-rising, 
welcome, make-believe, in-gathering, hear-say, sea-green, pitch- 
dark, child-like, spirit-stirring, lion-hearted, far-fetched, over-done, 
fruit-bearing, rough-hew, brow-beat, length-ways, whereas, there- 
about, somehow, nowhere, without, upon, into, back-bite. 

5. Resolve the following into their elements {bases, prefixes and 
suffixes), and classify, where possible, indicating also the part of 
speech in derivative and primitive : flattery, ending, coinage, aloud, 
monthly, blacken, linger, hinder, terrify, colonize, amid, along, per- 
chance, enfold, untie, distrust, lengthen, active, lively, carelessly, 
oily, untrue, blackish, avoidable, lawless, beautiful, woollen, Romish, 
wretched, director, idler, trickster, replace, reconstruct, perfectible, 
annex, forefather, irresolute, misinform, suppress, repress, impress, 
impressible, irrepressible, facilitate, intrusive, thicken, youthful. 

6. Form derivatives from the following as bases, and classify 
both: body, glory, weary, grace, incite, control, swim, awe, giddy, 
like, just, day, marvel, reverence, face, flame, vary, merry, annoy 



WORDS — FORMATION. 97 

holy, come, bind, new, vow, obstruct, expire, swim, cat, thief, half, 
gird, fall, venture, Newfoundland. 

7. Derive single parts of speech from the following and classify : 
sick with love, struck with fear, deal in pictures, with a mouth of 
gold, like a god, inspiring dread, hunt after fortune, abide by the 
laws, gaze at stars, tell the truth, tossed by the tempest, sees all 
things, bright like the sun, a bearer of tales, about there. 
7 



CHAPTEE YI. 
WORDS — TRANSMUTATION. 

A language has a life, just as really as a uum or as a tree; as a man, it 
must grow to its full stature; .... as a tree, it will defj^ auy feeble bauds 
which should attempt to control its expansion, so long as the principle of 
growth is in it.— Trench. 

rr^HE inultiplication of ideas creates a perpetual neces- 
-*- sity for enlarging the vocabulary. We have already 
considered the several ways in which — exclusive of the 
importation of foreign terms — this enlargement is ef- 
fected. We have seen how words may interchangeably 
assume different relations, how a given root in its turn 
may run through all the grammatical categories; as from 
the primary noun 'hand,' we have the secondary noun 
' handle'; the verb 'hand,' or 'handle'; the adjective 'hand- 
less,' or ' handy'; the adverb ' handily.' No more conven- 
ient improvement could be devised for speech. In all these 
cases, however, the modification of meaning is accompanied 
by a change of form, internal or external. But there are 
many instances, and anciently there were many more, 
where a radical is employed in a new class without formal 
change. Thus the substantive 'man,' without the altera- 
tion of a letter, becomes a verb: as, 'to man a ship'; so 
from 'arm,' 'to arm a fortress'; and all are familiar With 
the active verbal use of 'saddle,' 'bridle,' ' bit,' * house,' 
'water.' Many words, again, are nouns or verbs, according 
to the place of the accent: 



WORDS — TRANSMUTATION. 



99 



NOUN. 

abstract, 

accent, 

affix, 

augment, 

compact, 

concrete, 

converse, 

desert, 

digest, 

essay, 

import, 

insult, 

perfume, 

present, 

produce, 

rebel, 

survey, 



VERB. 

abstract. 

accent, 

affix, 

augment, 

compact, 

concrete, 

converse, 

desert, 

digest, 

essay, 

import, 

insult, 

perfume, 

present, 

produce, 

rebel, 

survey. 



The different sti'ess is merely the conventional mark that 
distinguishes the different use. The first is logically re- 
lated to the second as consequent to antecedent. 

With extraordinary license, the English takes up words 
of any kind and class, and enriches its resources of ex- 
pression by transforming them, at will, into nouns. Thus 
Shakespeare says, with his masterly indifference to any- 
supposed fixed habit of English words: 

Henceforth my wooing shall be expressed 
In russet yeas and honest kersey noes. 

And elsewhere: 

The Cardinal is not my better in the field. 
With equal freedom, a noun or an adverb is converted 
into an adjective. Who is not familiar with *a gold 
watch,' *a bottle nose,' 'a unwersity man,' *Aor5e-rad- 
ish,' 'Aorse-chestnut,' 'Ao?'se-laugh'? So Campbell's 



100 ESSENTIALS OF EJs^GLISH. 

'Like angel visits, few and far between'; Hunt's *With 
her in-and-out deliciousness,' or Falstaff's advice to Prince 
Hal, * Go hang yourself in your own heir -apparent gar- 
ters.' Besides nouns, we now and then meet with adjec- 
tives that are used as verbs: *to idle^ Ho warm^ *to 
open^\ or with the addition of a derivative syllable, *to 
whiten^ 'to blacken,'' etc. Many adjectives, also, furnish 
us with adverbs. Thus Milton: 

As when tlie sun, 7ieiv risen, 
Ijooks through the misty, horizontal air, 
Shorn of his beams. 

And Blair: 

Surely there's not a dungeon-slave that's buried 
In the high-way unshrouded and uncoflBned, 
But lies as soft and sleeps as sound as he. 

Each word's value is to be judged by reference to its 
yoke-fellows. It were foolish to ask, in a general way. 
What part of speech is 'love' or 'save'? because the former 
may stand for a verb, a noun, or an adjective; while the 
latter, though usually an infinitive, indicative, or impera- 
tive, may be a preposition, 'forty stripes save one,' or a 
noun, as in the question proposed. 'To be a noun or a 
verb or an adjective,' says Professor Earle, ' is a function 
which the word discharges in such and such a context, 
and not a character innate in the word or inseparable 
from it.' 

This convertibility may be but a remnant of a once uni- 
versal process, for eminent linguists have held that, at first, 
roots stood for any and every part of speech, just as the 
monosyllabic expressions of children do, and just as they 
do to this day in that language of arrested development, 
the Chinese. In any event, we are taught the salutary 



WORDS — TRANSMUTATION. 101 

lesson, that grammar is the formulation of usage, that lan- 
guage as a growth is subject to the variations of the 
mental life that forms it, and that the rightful arbiter in 
linguistic questions is Logic — the law of reason over- 
ruling the law of precedent. 

EXERCISES. 

1 . Construct sentences showing the transraiitat ion of ' cotton, ' 
'police,' 'Berlin,' from nouns into adjectives. 

2. Construct sentences showing the transmutation (without 
change of form) of 'worm,' 'motion,' 'station,' 'post,' 'provision,' 
'preface,' 'place,' 'notice,' 'minister,' 'pahi,'from nouns into verbs. 

3. Construct sentences showing the similar transmutation of 
'love,' 'hate,' 'fear,' 'dream,' 'book,' into three parts of speech. 



CHAPTER VII. 
WORDS — LOGIC A L FUNCTIONS. 

The mischief begins when language forgets itself, and makes us mistake 
the Word for the Thing.— Max Muller. 

WE are now to develop and apply more fully and 
systematically the cardinal principle of the preced- 
ing chapters, — that ][^arts of speech are not sharply 
divided by fixed lines; that the same word may be put 
into one class or another, according to difference of use or 
change of meaning j' that it does not belong exclusively 
to a single category, though it may generally be employed 
as one of such. Thus: *He exchanged his silver (^adjec- 
tive) watch for a lump of silver (notcn), with which to sil- 
ver (verb) some metal coin.' 

Criteria. — Ask what the word tells you, or to what 
other word it relates. If it throws its force on a verb, it 
is either an object (and therefore a noun or pronoun) or an 
adverb; if upon an adverb or adjective, it is an adverb; if 
upon a noun, it is fundamentally an adjective. If the 
word is used as an object of thought, it is a noun; if it 
asserts, or expresses action, it is a verb. 

Thus: (1) ' He wants no more.'' (2) ' He wants no ^nore 
w-ater.' (3) ' He will fear him no more.'' *More' in (1) de- 
notes an object of thought, — the something wanted, — 
and so is a noun;^ 'no,' modifying a noun, is an adjective. 

1 Words which do not name things, and yet are used as nouns, are some- 
times called substantives. 

102 



WORDS — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. 103 

* More ' in (2) modifies the noun ' water,' and is hence an 
adjective; * no ' is therefore an adverb. ' More ' in (3), since 
it relates to (modifies) 'fear,' and cannot be the object, is an 
adverb; hence ' no,' since it modifies an adverb, is an adverb. 

Again: 'He had all hut one, but that was too heavy; 
had he had but more time, he could have brought it too.'' 
The first 'but' (equal to 'except') merely connects 'one' with 
'all,' and is hence a preposition; the second joins two asser- 
tions, and is therefore a conjunction; the third (equal to 
*only') throws its force upon 'more' (which is an adjec- 
tive), and is hence an adverb. The first ' too,' modifying 
the adjective 'heavy,' is an adverb; the second, since it 
relates to the pronoun ' it,' is an adjective. 

Once more: (1) ^llQioalked {transitive verb) himself 
weary.' (2) 'He loalked (intransitive) three miles.' In 
(1), an object, ' himself,' directly receives the action 
expressed by the verb; in (2), no such object is expressed 
or required. Hence the different classification of ' walked.' 

The normal or regular functions of the Noun are: 

1. Subject. — A noun may be in the nominative case as 
the subject of a verb; as, ^ TAfeh bat a walking shadow'; 
'Then rose from Sea to Sky the V7i\d fareioell.'^ 

2. Predicate. — A noun, denoting the same person or 
thing as the subject, may be in the nominative case after 
certain intransitive or passive verbs;^ as, 'The earth is a 
planet.^ 'He was made president.'^ 

3. Address. — A noun may be in the nominative case 
to denote the person or thing spoken to, or addressed; as, 
'Pardon me, thou bleeding jt?eeee of earth!' 

4. Exclamation. — A noun may be in the nominative 

1 Sometimes called verbs of iucomplete prtdicatioa. By far the common- 
est of this class i« the so-called copula 'be,' in its various forms. 



104 ESSEN^TIALS OF EI^^GLISH. 

case to denote the person or thing spoken of in exclama- 
tory phrases;^ as, ^But, oh their end^ their dreadful endf 

5. Absolute. — A noun, with a limiting adjective or 
participle, may be in the nominative case without gram- 
matical dependence on any other word; as, ^The storm 
having ceased, we departed.' 

Note I. — (3) and (4) are g-rammatically and logically independent 
— (5) is only grammatically so ; for, logically, ' the storm having 
ceased ' is an adverb of time. ' Storm ' might with propriety be 
called an adverbial nominative. 

Note II. — (3) corresponds to the Latin Vocative, and (5) to the 
Latin 'Ablative Absolute.' 

6. Possessive. — A noun may be in the possessive case 
to denote possession; as, Hhe cannon^ s roar.' 

7. Direct Object. — A noun may be in the objective 
case to denote the object that directly receives the action 
of the verb; as, 'The cannon's roar the death-like silence 
broke.' 

8. Indirect Object. — A noun may be in the objective 
case to denote the object that indirectly receives the 
action; as, 'Give John the book' (=:Give the book to 
John), 'He made the "tnan a coat ' (=He made a coat for 
the man). 

Note I. — The possessive case is the only one seen by its form ; 
the difference between the nominative and objective must be thought 
Old. 

Note II. — In Latin and Old English we should call the direct 
object the Accusative case, and the indirect the Dative. 

9. A2:)2)Ositive. — A noun added to another noun to 
identify it, is put, by apposition, in the same case as the 
noun it explains; as, 'Hope, the star of life, never sets.' 

1 An expression not containing a finite verb as its base. 



WORDS — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. 105 

Note I. — A part is sometimes put in apposition with the whole; 
as, 'The whole army fled, some one way and some another'; or, 
'They love each other,' where 'each' is in apposition with 'they,' 
and 'other' is the object of love. A noun may be put in apposition 
with a sentence; as, * You ivrite very carelessly, — a habit you must 
correct.' 

Note II. — Mark the distinction between the appositive nomin- 
ative, for example, and the predicate nominative : ' He is president ' ; 
' He, the president, has issued a proclamation.' In the first, the 
relation is asserted ; in the second, it is assumed. 

10. Adverbial Objective. — A noun maybe in the ob- 
jective case when, to express vieasure, time, distance^ 
value, or manner, it is used in the manner of an adverb 
to modify a verb, adjective, or adverb. Thus, ' He sat an 
hotir. 'Have it your own icay? *A sermon two hours 
long.' ' It is a long distance off.' *It is worth a dollar.'' 

Note. — 'Hour' modifies the verb 'sat,' as an adverb of time. 
'Way ' modifies 'have,' as an adverb of manner. ' Hours ' modifies 
the adjective ' long ' ; * dollar ' the adjective ' worth ' ; ' distance ' the 
arlverb 'off.' Hence the noun, in these uses, while in itself a noun, 
has the value of an adverb. The adverbial objective, as well as the 
indirect object, is a remnant of Old English, which has special case 
endings for such uses of the noun. 

But we have seen with what freedom nouns are con- 
verted into other parts of speech: into verbs, as * taste,' 
'smell,' * sound,' 'fire,' 'pin," nail,' 'dog,' 'thread," shelve'; 
into adjectives, as ' the Health of Towns Act,' or ' his dream 
last night''', into adverbs, as, 'He sent the man home'' (see 
10 above); into interjections, as ''Fire and brimstone! 
what have you been doing ? ' 

The normal function of the Pronoun is to represent a 
noun ; yet in Coke's insult to Sir Walter Raleigh we have 
the personal first as adjective, then as verb: 'All that Lord 



106 ESSENTIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

Cobham did was at thy instigation, thou viper, for I thou 
thee, thou traitor.' Consider, as an additional example, 
the word * what,' w^hich may be — 

A noun: ' W^hat^ in its derivation, is the neuter of loho.'' 

An interrogative: ' What ails you ? ' 

A relative: 'Take what I offer.' 

An adjective: ' What news from Europe?' 

An adverb: ^What (partly) by this and what by that, 
he succeeded.' 

An interjection: ' What / take my money, and my life 
too?' 

The normal function of the Verb is to express being, 
action, or state; but every verb may become a noun, if 
made the subject or object of thought : ' Can sing must 
be transitive or intransitive, according to its use.' All are 
familiar with the interjective employment of verbs, as — 
' But hark ! he strikes the golden lyre ; 
And see ! the tortur'd ghosts respire.' 

The normal functions of the Adverb will be readily re- 
called from previous discussion, and we have seen how 
various are its transmutations: noun — 

' Thou losest here, a better where to find ' ; 
adjective — 'the very instant,' 'the Jomj^ train'; pronoun 
— 'This is the point wherein (=:in which) I offended'; 
preposition — 'It happened since Monday'; conjunction — 
' I will keep it since no one claims it.' 

In like manner, the Adjective irregularly becomes a 

noun: 'the palpable obscure^ 

' His hetter does not breathe upon the earth ' ; 

or an adverb: 

' Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring,' 
and, 

'All listless roamed a shepherd swain.' 



WORDS — LOGICAL FUN'CTIOKS. 10? 

The normal functions of the Preposition and Con- 
junction are simple and clear. Their convertibility, 
according to varieties of office, requires no further com- 
ment or illustration. Not less numerous are the possible 
classifications of the Interjection. For instance, as adverb : 
*The lark that tirra-lirra chants'; or noun: 'With a 
lengthened, loud halloo tu-who, tu-whit^ tii-whoo-o-o.'' 

EXERCISES 

1. Decide whetlier tlie italicized words are anxiliaiy or not, 
giving reasons: 

(1) Slmll the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast 
thou made me thus? 

(2) Thou hast me now ruined and at tliy mercy. 

(3) Thou shalt do no murder. 

(4) I do indeed believe him. 

(5) I am about to return to town. 

(6) If thou tviJt, thou mayest make me clean. 

(7) I am so deeply smitten through the helm. 

2. Decide whetlier the italicized words are participles or verbal 
nouns, giving reasons : 

(1) "Women are angels, wooing. 

(2) Seeing is Relieving. 

(3) Father's gone a-hunting. 

(4) I saw a great piece of ordnance maMng. 

(5) Within the sound of some church-going bell. 

(6) I see men as trees icalhing. 

(7) Doubtless the pleasure is as great 
Of being cheated, as to cheat. 

3. State the class of the italicized words, giving reasons 
therefor : 

(1) All men are mortal. 

(2) Each for all, all for each. 

(3) All is lost. 

(4) All around the world. 



108 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

(5) A man like few others. 

(6) The like of it was never known. 

(7) They like to study. 

(8) As many as desire, may go as soon as they choose to do so. 

Suggestions. — What is the subject of 'desire'? To what pre- 
ceding word does the subject relate? 

(9) Will you parse will ? 

(10) He did so, because it was so heavy; but his step was light, 
because his heart was so. 

(11) High life heloiv stairs. 

(12) Go helow. 

(13) The power from helow. 

(14) A running fire. 

(15) The messenger comes rmining. 

(16) How far is it? 

(17) A result far beyond his hopes. 

(18) He went there. 

(19) My stay there was short. 

(20) His cousin was a soldier. 

(21) His soldier cousin. 

(22) Which vf\\\ jow iokQl 

(23) Which book will you take? 

Suggestion. — Remember your definition of a pronoun — it is 
used for a noun, not with a noun. 

(24) The which clause is an integral part of the sentence. 

(25) Grive me ichat you have. 

(26) Give me what money you have. 

(27) What by this, and what by that, he succeeded. 

(28) The what is mofe important than the hoiv. 

(29) The book which you have is mine. 

(30) Distinguish between which and what. 

(31) He writes well. 

(32) He writes good English. 

(33) Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note. 

(34) Wide waves the eagle plume. 

(35) To equal which the tallest pine were hut a wand. 



W0KD6 — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. 109 

(36) The thunder afar roused up the soldier. 

(37) All heart-broke I heard her say. 

(38) The torrid clime smote on him sore besides. 

(39) EUie went home, sad and sloiv. 

(40) Yet let 7iot one heart-beat go astray. 

(41) A love that shall be new and fresh each hour as the sweet 
coming of the evening star. 

(42) And make life, death, and that vast forever one grand, 
sweet song. 

(43) All that is shall be turned to was. 

(44) Do you think I fable with you ? 

(45) Who came after me ? 

(46) Who came soon after ? 

(47) Who came a/^er I left? 

(48) Be mum until I return. 

(49) The proudest he that stops my way. 

(50) The effect of thine o-yes was strange. 

(51) Here we may reign secure. 

(52) Farthest from him is best. 

(53) This was my happy triumph morning. 

(54) The old she goat seemed uneasy. 

(55) Heavens 1 how dull he is ! 

(56) Mark you his absolute shall ! 

(57) He answered without an if or a but. 

(58) He went away sorrowing. 

(59) He rode seated between two officers. 

(60) A fast was kept. 

(61) They were told to fast. 

(62) He drives fast. 

(63) He drives fast horses. 

(64) They walked past the house. 

(65) They walked past. 

(66) Past sorrows are soon forgotten. 

(67) The sorrows of the^as^ are forgotten. 

(68) You fine down your distinction till there is nothing left. 

(69) If mp no Ifs. 

(70) He was an only son. 



110 ^ ESSEI^"TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

(71) He spoke in under-tones. 

(72) The day before was rainy, and so was the day afte?'. 

(73) Pending the inquiry, she retired to France. 

(74) Knowledge is the wing ivhereivith \\q fly to heaven. 

(75) His eyes were ever fixed on the great Hereafter. 

(76) Do not thou him for the w^orld. 

(77) Providing these things turn out so, you will win. 

(78) ' That there man's a fool,' observed Sally. 

(79) Round the rocks they ran, where the round bay, swerving 
round gently, rounds the rugged shore. 

(80) Full many a round they ran, and still cried 'Round ! ' 

(81) If thou thouest him some thrice, it will not be amiss. 

(82) He has not been here since then. 

(83) Love the good, the beautiful, and the true. 

(84) He was in the thicTxest of the fight. 

(85) Loved is a verb. 

(86) A rail fence, a stone wall, the then ruler. 

(87) The wall ivithin and that without. 

(88) In the second place, after thinking a second or two, I second 
your proposal. 

(89) The moon is up, it turned uj?, and the boat sailed up the 
river. 

(90) He said that that that that that man said, was not that that 
that that man should say. 

(91) She tvills me to give up my base vocation. 

(92) Think you I am no stronger than my sex, 
Being so fathered and so husbanded ? 



CHAPTER YIIL 
PHRASES — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. 

When, having passed over the original and composition of our ideas, I began 
to examine the extent and certainty of our knowledge. I found that it had so 
near a connexion with words that unless their force and manner of signification 
were first well observed, there could be very little said clearly and pertinently 
concerning knowledge. — Locke. 

A PHRASE is any combination of words that does ^lot 
include both subject and predicate, as, ' to sing,' ' of 
wisdom,' 'having crossed the Rubicon.' 

It is to be observed that groups of words whose mean- 
ings are closely united, very often, when taken together, 
perform the duties of words. Thus, 'The bear sprang 
hastily from his grassy bed ' = 'The bear sprang ^V^ haste 
from his bed of grass.'' ^Erring is human ' = ' To err is 
human.' 'Your mistake is (/e/9^ora^?e ' = ' Your mistake is 
to be deplored.'^ ' Be good that you may be happy '=' Be 
good 171 order that you may be happy.' 

Hence we may arrange phrases in the same classes in 
which we arrange words. If the phrase is used as a noun, 
it has the value of a noun ; if it throws its force upon a 
noun, it has the value of an adjective ; if upon an adverb 
or adjective, it has the value of an adverb ; if upon a verb, 
it is either an adverb, or a noun in the objective case, 
according to its use. Thus : — 

1. The liouse on yonder hill is sold Adjective. 

2. The }iouse .stood on yonder hill • • . Adverb. 

Ill 



112 ESSEI^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

3. The house standing on yonder hill. ' Adjective. 

4. He told me to go home Nowi, 

5. To love our neighbors as ourselves is divine '* 

6. The cars having arrived, we departed. . Absolute (in form). 

Note I. — A phrase is frequently introduced by a preposition, a 
participle, an infinitive, or a normal '-^ adjective. The first is a prep- 
ositional phrase, the second a participial phrase, the third an infini- 
tive phrase, the fourth an adjective phrase. Thus, (1) 'The study 
of history improves the mind ' ; (2) ' To forget an injury is noble ' ; ^ 
(3) ' Caesar, having crossed the Rubicon, gave battle ' ; (4) * He was a 
man generous in all things.^ [The adjective phrase in (4) includes 
a prepositional phrase.] 

Note II. — Any of these forms, as before observed, has the value 
of a noun, adjective, or adverb, according to its use. When equiv- 
alent to a noun, it is a 7iow?i-phrase, when equivalent to an adjec- 
tive, — that is, when modifying a noun, — it is an ac?yeci(we-phrase ; 
when equivalent to an adverb, it is an at^verft-phrase. 

EXERCISES. 

In the following sentences, classify each of the phrases printed 
in italics, as to office, and give the form, when there is a special 
form, stating reasons: Determine also, the base of the phrase, — the 
term around which the others cluster: 

1. To die for one's country is sweet. 

2. Exhausted by fatigue, we lay down to rest. 

3. Resentment ties all the terrors of our tongue. 

4. He hears the parson pray and preach. 

5. Little EUie, with her smile 7iot yet ended, rose up gaily. 

6. It is a thing to walk with . 

7. You have confessed yourself a spy. 

8. Dear flower, fringing the dusty road ivith harmless gold. 

1 The whole phrase is adjective because it modifies the noun 'house ' ; 'on 
yonder hill' is adverb, as in (2), because it modifies the verbal adjective ' stand- 
ing/ 

2 A word used regularly as an adjective. 

3 Strictly a form of prepositional phrase — ' to ' the preposition, and the rest 
an objective infinitive. 



PHRASES — LOGICAL FUJs^CTIOXS. 113 

9. Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's 
repose. 

^ 1 0. 1 sang cheer'ly atl day long. 

11. I, who have Egypt-rivered this map. 

1 2. In spite of all the world I will be brave. 

13. With God there is no shall be. 

14. Who, among the whole chattering croivd, can tell me? 

15. It is not a time for adulation. 

16. He falls, like Lucifer, never to hope agoAn. 

17. This once known, I shall soon return. 

1 8. To speak plainly, your habits are your worst enemies. 

1 9. This sentence is not too difficult for me to analyze, 

20. I supposed him to he a gentleman. 

2 1 . She threatened to go heyond the sea. 

22. 'Tis I, Hamlet the Dane. 

23. Let us still the secret joy partake, 
To follow virtue, e'en for virtue s sake. 

24. The phrase 'upon the rapidity of vibration' modifies the 
predicate. [Words and phrases in apposition are nouns in form, but 
adjectives in use.] 

25. Returning were as tedious as go o'er. 

26. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. 

27. I'll have thee hanged to feed the crow. 

28. What a thing is poverty among the fallen on ecil days? 

29. Deep in the buried wisdom of the past he was. 

30. Through the dark clouds the summit of the hill was still 
visible. 

31. The gleaming rushes leaji a thousand ways. 

32. liing in the Christ that is to be. 

33. The melting Phoebe stood wringing her hands. 

34. I looked in on him as I came from school. 

35. I am set to light the ground. 

36. Not in the regio)is of horrid hell, can come a devil more 
damned in ills — to top Macbeth. 

8 



CHAPTER IX. 

CLAUSES — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. ■ 

The object we have, or should have, in teaching science is not to fill the 
mind with a vast number of facts that may or may not prove useful hereafter, 
but to draw out and exercise the powers of observation.— Dr. Morris. 

A CLAUSE is a sentence doing duty in another 
^ * sentence as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. It 
differs from a phrase in containing both subject and 
predicate — it resembles a phrase in being used with the 
force of a single word. Thus, 'A person ignorant of his 
own language ought not to attempt to teach it' = ^A 
person loho is ignorant of his own language,' etc.\ 'He 
reported the death of the hing'^^.'-l^Q reported that the 
king had died.'' Other examples are: 

1. That the, earth is a sphere is easily proved. Subject nominative. 

2. Her answer was, 'Seven are ive.'' . . . Predicate nomi7iative. 

3. She answered, 'Seven are we.^ Object. 

4. I have come that I may see it Adverb. 

5. Attention is tlie stuff tltat memory is made of. . . Adjective. 

6. It is stvixuga that you sJiotdd think so Adjective. 

Note I. — Possessives and appositives, while nouns or pronouns 
in their proper nature, are adjectives in force, since they describe or 
restiict the meaning of some noun or pronoun. Thus the clause in 
(6) is in apposition with ' it.' In such sentences, either it may be said 
that there is true apposition, in which the appositional element, as a 
contained part, identifies or explains 'it' as the containing whole ; as 
in the analogous construction of '/, therefore, the prisoner of the 
Lord, beseech you,' etc. ; or ' it' may be called the grammatical sub- 
ject, and the appositional word, phrase, or clause, the logical sub- 

414 



CLAUSES — LOGICAL FUNCTIONS. 115 

ject; that is, the subject according to the real meaning or logic of 
the sentence. 

Note II. — Since the relative clause is connected in meaning with 
the noun-antecedent of its relative pronoun, it must always have the 
value of an adjective, as in (5). 

Criteria. — How is the clause used in the sentence? 
As subject, predicate (after the copula 'be'), or object? — 
Then it is a noun. Does its meaning relate to a noun? — 
Then it is an adjective. Does it throw its force upon an 
adverb or an adjective? — Then it is an adverb. Does it 
seem to be more closely connected witli a verb than with 
anything else ? — Then it is either an object (noun) or an 
adverb. Can it be the first? — If not, it is the second. 

EXERCISES. 

1. In the following sentences classify the italicized parts, giving 
the reasons why : 

(1) He was so weak that he fell. 

(2) Whither I go ye cannot come. 

(3) The fact that he killed her is apparent. 

(4) lie is i)recisely what he seems. 

(5) You err in that you think so, 

(6) We are quite sorry that it is so. 

(7) The country ivhence he came is desolate. 

(8) I know not whence he came. 

(9) That you have wronged me doth appear in this. 

(10) You have heard if I fought bravely. 

(11) If you are honest, you will be respected. 

(12) Why we the stern usurper spared 1 know not. 

(13) But I saw a glow-worm near. 
Who replied: ' WJiat wailing aright 
( J alls the watch?na7i of the night?' 

(14) He needs must think of her once more, 
JJoiv in Iter grave she lies. 



116 ESSEISTTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

(15) Socrates was one of the greatest sages the world ever saw. 

(16) Youth is the time ivhen the seeds of character are sown. 

(17) This is a proof that he never came. 

(18) There are many things / might tell you. 

(19) God was angry with the children of Israel, for he over- 
threw them in the wilderness. 

(20) As I entered, so will I retire. 

(31) Then think I ... of meadows where in sun the cattle 
graze. 

(22) Unless I am mistaken, it was he. 

(23) They are better than we had expected. 

(24) I fear he will not succeed. 

(25) I am certain he will not succeed. 

(26) I found the book you want. 

(27) Ye shall not touch it, lest ye die. 

(28) The teacher praised you more thari me. 

(29) I will go if possible. 

(30) ^England expects every man to do his duty' was Nelson's 
motto that day. 

(31) He asked, ' Who are youV 

(32) He inquired who I was. 

(33) For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel. 

(34) It argues in what good plight and constitutiori the hody is. 

(35) Once a dream did weave a shade 
O'er my angel-guarded bed, 
TTiat an emmet lost its way, 
Wliere on grass methought I lay. 

2. Determine the clauses and classify them: 

(1) Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide? 

(2) Napoleon, the man of destiny, died at St. Helena. 

(3) He is not as clever as you. 

(4) Be it a trifle, it will be well done. 

(5) Do what I may, I cannot persuade him of my innocence. 

(6) The axiom, that a whole is greater than its part, seems so 
true that its statement seems at first sight, unnecessary. 

(7) This news, if true, will alter our plans. 

(8) Tears such as angels weep. 



CLAUSES — LOGICAL FUXCTIONS. 117 

3. Tell whether the italicized parts are phrases or clauses, and 
classify each, giving reasons : 

(1) To confess the truth, I was wrong. 

(2) You have no right to decide icho are interested. 

(3) He had an axe to grind. 

(4) I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a certain time to icalk 
the night. 

(.-)) Tlie year ivhen Chaucer ivas born is uncertain. 

(6) Dying for a principle is a higher degree of virtue than 
scolding. 

(7) They will call hefore leaving the city. 

(8) They will call hefore they learn the city. 

(9) Whose gray top shall tremble, he descending. 

(10) They that touch pitch will be defiled. 

(11) He came. 1 
(13) Come. 

(13) Because he came. 

4. In two different sentences use the same word (same in form) 
as an adjective and an adverb. 

5. In two different sentences use the same word as a preposi- 
tion and a conjunction. 

6. In two different sentences use the same word as a conjunc- 
tion and an adverb. 

7. In two different sentences use the same word as a pronoun 
and a conjunction. 

8. In three different sentences use the same word as a noun, a 
verb, and an adjective. 

9. Compose a sentence containing a noun phrase, an adjective 
phrase, and an adverb phrase. 

10. Compose a sentence containing three adjective phrases, — 
one introduced by a preposition, one by an adjective, and one by a 
participle. 

11. Compose a sentence containing four different forms of 
phrases, — two being of one kind, and two of another. 

12. Compose six sentences, — two with infinitives used as nouns, 
two with infinitives used as adjectives, two with infinitives used as 
adverbs. 



118 ESSENTIALS OF ENTtLISH. 

13. Compose sentences containing clauses: 

(1) Three with clauses used as nouns, — subject, predicate, and 
object. 

(2) Three with clauses used as adjectives, — a relative clause 
with the relative pronoun expressed, a relative clause with the 
relative pronoun understood, and an appositional clause. 

(3) Six with clauses used as adverbs, — two modifying an adjec- 
tive, two a verb, and two an adverb. 



CHAPTEK X. 

THE SENTENCE — PRINCIPAI- ELEMENTS. 

Truth, in my opinion, has been improperly imagined at the bottom of a 
well: it lies miicii nearer tlie surface; though buried indeed at present under 
mountains of learned rubbish. — Tooke. 

rr^HE Elements of a sentence are its parts. The 
-^ Principal Elements are those necessary for the ex- 
pression of a thought, — Subject and Predicate. The sub- 
ject is either a noun or its equivalent: 

Conversation enriches the nnderstaii(liii,i>', but Solitude is the 
seliool of genius. — Q-ihhon. 

His studie was but litel on the Bible. — Chauce?: 

When bad men combine, the good must associate. — Burke. 

To be innocent is to be not guilty, but to he viriuons is to ovei- 
come our evil inclinations. — Penn. 

'I cannot do if never accomplished anything; 'I will try'' has 
wrought wonders. — Ha ires. 

The predicate is — 

1. Generally a verb: 

(1) Simple : 'Responsibility s7? arp^/is our faculties.' 

(2) Composite: 'The palace should not scorn the cottage.' ' No 
more shall grief of mine the season wrong.' 

2. A verb and an adjective: 

'Sweet are the uses of adversity.' 
Iron is of great use = 
Ii-on is vei'V useful. 



120 iESSE^^TIALS OF EIn^GLISH. 

3. A verb and an adverb: 

' I am here.'' 
' Gold is there.' 

4. A verb and a noun: 

'Gray hairs are Death's blossoms.' 

'To enjoy is to obey.' 

'The report is, that he is a traitor.' 

'Pilate's question was, ''Wliat is truth?"'' 

Note I. — Evidently, hj predicate and subject we here mean the 
leading term or base of the thing- asserted, and of the thing about 
which the assertion is made. 

Note II. — It is implied in this exposition, as held by Aristotle, 
that the predicate must consist of two factors — an assertive, and an 
attributive. The former is the essential life of the sentence — the 
engine that propels the train. In logic it is called the copula, to 
indicate that it identifies or distinguishes the two terms of a judg- 
ment: 'All aS is P'; ^Man is mortal.^ 

Note III. — The copula, by preeminence, is 'be,' which originally 
expressed breathing, then existence, as it does now sometimes : ' I 
am,' 'God is.' Gradually the substantive meaning faded out, and 
the word came to be used frequently as a mere coupler, serving to 
bring two ideas into connection: ' God is good.' Both uses occur in 
tlie passage : ' We believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of 
them that diligently seek him.' He who would be saved from hope- 
less confusion, however, will do well to remember that the verb 'to be,' 
in spite of the hau'-splitting logicians, is fundamentally a synonyme 
with the verb ' to exist.' ' Victoria is queen ' is, at bottom, equal to 
' Victoria exists queen.' So in the Diversions of Purley, H. says he 
would ' rather chuse in the scale of beings to exist a mastiff or a 
mule,' which is absolutely the same as 'to be a mastiff or a mule.' 
' The man is dying ' is no other than ' The man exists in a dying 
condition ' ; and ' The man is dead ' is neither more nor less than 
' The man (that is, his body) exists dead ' ; for the existence {ex-stare, 
to stand forth) predicated by ' to be ' is predicable alike of things ani- 
mate and inanimate. Aristotle says: ' The copula affirms merely a 
relative, not an absolute, existence.' 'Ptolemv^'s not alive' denies 



THE SENTENCE — PKINCIPAL ELEMENTS. 121 

his existence relative to life, but implies it in the other sense — that 
he exists to ns as a dead man can, by remembrance or tradition. 

Note IV. — Understanding, therefore, that ' be ' radically declares 
a thing existent, we may correctly affirm that the copula is an implied 
or formal portion of every predicate. It is the first, when being and 
attribution — the essentials of the predicate — are expressed in one 
word; as, 'Socrates speaks,' where a certain act, that is, existence 
together with a certain condition of existence, is asserted. It is the 
second, when being and attribution are expressed in different words: 
(1) Socrates is .... (speaking) ; (2) He is .... (eondenmed) ; 
(3) Gold is .... (a inetal) ; (4) It is .... (excellent). 

Note V. — The assertive element is modified, in (3) and (4), only 
by limitation ; in (1) and (2), by both limitation and expansion. 
Convenience, however, justifies us in treating these latter as units. 
Thus, ignoring in practice the distinction which we make in theory, 
the term verb is applied equally to simple and composite forms. 
Grammatically, 'Birds fli/'= ' Birds are Jiijitig.'' 

Note VI. — Dismissing the historical fact that the assertive ele- 
ment denotes being, and confining our view to its superficial 
function as a coupler of concepts, we may receive intelligently the 
common statement that ' be ' is a verb of incomplete predication, 
requiring, under this aspect, something additional to form any 
completed sense. The addition may be variously designated, as 
attribute, complement, or supplement. 

Note VII. — A prepositional complement sometimes enters idio- 
matically into the structure of a verb-term as an organic constituent : 
'burn ?<7; '( = consume), 'keep o/i' (= continue), ' stand ow^ ( — re- 
sist), 'make ?<_/?' (= constitute), 'take up' (= arrest). We have a 
peculiar character to keep up (= maintain.) — Lamh. Such com- 
pounds are often transitive in the fullest sense, as tested by the 
passive construction: 'His zeal was wondered at.'' 'The servant 
was spoken to by his master,' 

Note VIII. — Likewise, a few other verbs which share the office of 
the copula as ties, yet are somewhat more, are called copalatives: 

(1) He seemed .... (a monster). 

{%) He became .... (a hero). 



122 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

(3) He lived .... (an apostlej, and died .... (a martyr). 

(4) He appeal's, looks .... (a rascal). 

(5) He ivas thought, deemed, believed, supposed, called, named 
.... (a villain). 

(6) He was made, appointed, created .... (president). 

Here the entire attribute includes the noun, and that part of the 
verb which is not mere copula — the extraneous ideas of seeming, 
hecoming, thinking, helieving, etc. Such copulatives are also known 
as apposition verbs, because their complements are in apposition 
with their subjects. 

Note IX. — While we regard the two as coordinate parts of a whole, 
it is not inadmissible to regard the attributive elements seconda- 
rily as modifiers of the assertive, which, upon a rigorous analysis, 
are seen to be the ultimate foundation of the predicate, — a point to 
be elaborated hereafter. 

Note X. — He, therefore, who chooses to penetrate to the truth of 
the matter, and to consider the substratum of the predicate, or the 
nucleus of its polarization, as always a verb, may satisfy the demands 
of reason and of science, as well as his love of simplicity and of sys- 
tem. 

EXERCISES. 

Determine and state the principal elements in the following. If 
subject, whether it is a normal or an abnormal noun (or plurality of 
nouns). If predicate, whether the complex idea — being and attri- 
bution — is expressed in one word or in several ; if the latter, 
whether the form is to be considered a composite verb, or a verb 
(copulative) and its complement. In both cases, whether the ele- 
ment (subject or predicate) is of the entire sentence, or of a part (as 
in a clause) : 

1. I love to lose myself in other men's minds. — Lamh. 

2. The Alps, piled in cold and still sublimity, are an image of 
despotism. 

3. Extreme admiration puts out the critic's eye. 

4. No scene is continually loved except one rich by joyful human 
labor. — i?y^sA-m. 



THE SENTENCE — PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS. 123 

5. The evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is 
robbing- the human race. — MiU. 

6. He that allows himself to be a worm must not complain if he 
is trodden on. — Kant. 

7. To speak perfectly well, one must feel that he has got to the 
bottom of his subject. — Whately. 

8. All those things for which men plough, build, or sail, obey 
virtue. — Sallust. 

9. Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

The saddest are these : ' It might have been.' — Wliittier. 

10. To be at war with one we love. 

Doth work like madness in the brain. — Coleridge. 

11. Of thousands, thou both sepulchre and pall, 
Old Ocean, art ! — Dana. 

1 2. The blessed to-day is as completely so 

As who began three thousand years ago. — Pope. 

13. All night the dreadless angel, unpursued. 

Through heaven's wide champaign held his way : till morn, 
Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand 
Unbarr'd the gates of light. — Milton. 

14. The grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is 
cast into the oven. — Bible. 



OHAPTEE XI. 
THE SENTENCE — SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS. 

Were there a single man to be found with a firmness sufficient to efEace 
from his mind the theories and notions vulgarly received, and to apply his 
intellect free and without prevention, the best hopes might be entertained of his 
success.— Bacon. 

r I ^HE most elementary form of sentence consists only 
-*- of the essentials — ^Subject and Predicate. * Fire 
burns,' 'Fire is burning,' 'Man is mortal.' These pri- 
mary elements, however, may assume various positions, 
more or less divergent from the recognized order of 
arrangement: 

Rose a nurse of ninety years, 

Set her child upon her knee. — Tennyson. 

Each may also, as here, be enlarged and complicated by 
additional words that give it completeness or precision of 
meaning. Thus, again: 'The fire,' 'the bright fire,' 'the 
brightly blazing fire,' ' the brightly blazing fire which was 
seen in the distance.' Notwithstanding all this, the fun- 
damental portion is ' fire,' to which the rest is secondary. 
In like manner: 

The fruit 
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world, and all our woe ; 
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man 
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, etc. — Milton. 

The following illustrates both points in a comprehensive 
way: 

124 



THE SENTENCE — SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS. 125 

With taper light 
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish (= subject) 
[Is (= copula) wasteful and ridiculous excess] [ = predicate). 

— Shakespeare. 

But let us inquire into this constructive process more 
particularly and in detail. 

1. For example, the single word 'squirrel' evidently 
stands for the whole kingdom of squirrels. 

2. In 'the squirrel,' the meaning is restricted, by the 
use of ' the,' from squirrels in general to a particular one. 

3. In ' the black squirrel,' the meaning is still further 
restricted by the use of 'black' — those of any other 
color being excluded. 

4. In ' the black squirrel on the tree,' the extent of 
the original term is still less, since it now includes only 
black squirrels that happen to be on trees — excluding 
those that are elsewhere. 

5. In 'the black squirrel on the oak tree,' the meaning 
is further restricted by the use of ' oak,' since it now ex- 
cludes all the black squirrels that may be on other kinds 
of trees, — that is, in restricting 'tree' by 'oak,' we have 
restricted ' squirrel.' 

6. In 'the black squirrel on the oak tree in the 
meadow,' its meaning is yet narrower, since it now in- 
cludes only such as are on oak trees that stand in mead- 
ows, — that is, in restricting 'tree' by the use of 'in the 
meadow,' we have restricted ' squirrel.' 

7. In ' the black squirrel on the oak tree in the meadow 
behind the barn,' we first restrict 'meadow' from meadows 
in general to the one in a particular situation, and thus 
restrict 'squirrel,' since we exclude all l)lack squirrels on 
oak trees standing in such meadows as have other sit- 
uations. 



126 ESSENTIALS OF EJ^GLISH. 

a. Again, the verb ' was conversing' may have various 
meanings in respect to the thne of the action, — as last 
w^eek, last month, etc. ; but if we say ' was conversing yes- 
terday,' these several meanings are restricted to one — 
other times being excluded. 

b. 'Was conversing' may have various meanings in 
respect to the 7nanner of the action ; but if we say 'was 
conversing yesterday pleasantly,' its extent is restricted 
to the one mode. 

C. It may have various meanings in respect to the ap- 
plication of the action ; but if we say ' was conversing 
pleasantly yesterday with a gray squirrel,' its general idea 
is made definite and therefore narrower, — other animals, 
as well as other squirrels than gray, being excluded from 
the conversation. 

d. If we say 'was pleasantly conversing yesterday 
with a gray squirrel on an ash tree in an adjoining field,' 
we restrict the meaning of 'was conversing ' just as we 
restrict the meaning of 'squirrel' in (5) and (6). 

This, then, is our sentence : ' The black squirrel on 
the oak tree in the meadow behind the barn was convers- 
i7ig pleasantly yesterday with a gray squirrel on an ash 
tree in an adjoining field.' 

Now to restrict or limit the meanings of a word tlius is 
to modify it.' Hence all these successive additions are 
modifiers. Some of them modify the subject and predi- 
cate directly ; as, 'the' or 'black' in (2) or (3), and 'yes- 
terday' or 'pleasantly' in (a) or (b). Others modify the 
subject and predicate indirectly. Thus ' oak ' and ' in the 
meadow,' in (5) and (6), modify squirrel by first modifying 
'tree.' Likewise in (d), 'in an adjoining field' first modi- 

1 !See page 61. 



THE SENTENCE — SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS. 127 

fies 'tree,' then 'squirrel' through 'tree,' then through 
'squirrel' it modifies 'was conversing.' Since these modi- 
fiers merely explain and depend upon the principal parts, 
they are said to be subordinate. Therefore, subordinate 
elements are the parts which modify principal elements. 

In picking out the modifiers of subject and predicate, 
those words whose meanings are closely united must go 
together. Thus 'the' and 'black' are separate modifiers; 
but as * behind the barn 'is a modifier of 'meadow,' and 
'in the meadow' is a modifier of 'tree,' and 'on the oak 
tree ' is a modifier of ' squirrel,' we should say that ' squirrel ' 
is modified, not merely by 'on the oak tree,' but by 'on 
the oak tree in the meadow behind the barn.' Whatever 
is modified is base with reference to the term that modi- 
fies. 

Subordinate elements, as commonly divided, are of 
three kinds ; 

AdJectivCy if they modify nouns. 

Objective, if they are the object of transitive verbs. 

Adverbial, (1) if they modify adjectives or adverbs ; or 
(2) if they modify verbs, and are not objects. 

Upon closer view, however, this classification is seen to be 
only approximate. An objective element is merely a 
variety of the adverbial, not a separate or coordinate 
class ; for an adiaerb signifies, etymologically, whatever is 
added to a verb. In strictness, therefore, modifications 
are two : The modifier of the subject, and so of any object 
of thought that may be used as a subject, is an adjective 
modification ; that of the predicate, or of any part of the 
sentence that may be used as a predicate, is an adverbial 
modification. 



128 ESSENTIALS OF EISTGLTSH. 

One class of adverbial elements, from its extent and 
frequent recurrence, merits particular notice — adverb 
clauses : 

Oi place: 'He lay where he fell.' 
Of time: 'When pleasure calls, we listen.' 
Of manner: 'He died as he lived.' 
Of degree: 'He is taller than John [is tall].' 'He is 
as good as she.' 

Of cause: 'I believe it because you say it.' 
Of residt : 'He was so weak that he could not speak.' 
Of condition: 'If you are good, you will be respected.' 
Of concession: 'Though you slay me, I will do it.' 
Of inirpose: 'He died that we might live.' 
The subject or predicate with all its modifiers is said to 
be logical; without its modifiers, simple or gramtnatical. 

Note I. — Where the predicate is regarded as consisting of copula 
and attribute, it would be well to determine whether the modifica- 
tion relates to the whole or more especially to one of its constit- 
uents. 

Note II. — A modification of the assertive element — copula, ex- 
pressed or involved — is known also as a modal: 'I possibly saw 
him,' 'I probably saw him,' 'I certainly saw him.' The modifier 
indicates here the mode (manner) of the assertion. The following 
words are properly modals: 'assuredly,' 'certainly,' 'doubtless,' 
'forsooth,' 'indeed,' 'indubitably,' 'positively,' 'truly,' 'verily,' 
'undoubtedly,' * unquestionably,' 'not,' 'necessarily,' 'haply,' 'per- 
chance,' 'perhaps,' 'perad venture,' 'possibly.' Also the equivalents 
of these: ' He were no lion, ivere not Romans hiiids.' 

Note III. — Language abounds in modifications of the predicate 
relatively to the subject: (1) 'He came unexpected.' (2) 'Ellie 
went home sad.' (8) 'She walked calm and majestic' (4) 'He 
stood musing.' Everyone must see that the modifying part in each 
of these examples, while it relates more or less to the verb, carries a 
manifest reference to the subject. Under tlie former aspect they are 



THE SEJfTEl^CE — SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS. 129 

adverbial; under the latter, adjectival. In contrast with such cases, 
mark the following, in which the modifier pertains exclusively to the 
predicate element: (1) 'He went home slowly.' (2) 'She walked 
gracefully.'' (3) 'lie came unexpectedly.' Often it may be debata- 
ble to which element there is the stronger reference : ' How jocund 
did they drive their team afield ! ' where it may be a question, 
whether the word describes chiefly the state in which they were, or 
the manner in which they drove. 

Note IV. — It has been permitted elsewhere to regard these in- 
complete verbs, and similar ones, as copulatives, constituting, to- 
gether with their complements, simple predicates. But it will be 
remembered that however customary or convenient this procedure 
may be, it is not exact. A logical analysis requires the resolution 
of all such cases into hase and modifier, as illustrated additionally 
in : ' John has become a farmer ' ; and, * The stone rolled thun- 
dering down the hill. ' Clearly, ' a farmer ' is limitary, restricting the 
becoming to one direction; while 'thundering' respects the mode of 
rolling. Obviously, ' farmer ' in itself, or normally, is a noun ; but 
relatively — functionally — it is here adverbial in so far as it refers 
to 'has become,' and adjectival (or appositional) in so far as it 
refers to 'John.' 

Note V. — Recurring to the historical and real import of ' be, ' we 
may add that the copula is modified by its complement, even in the 
so-called composite forms of |^the verb. Thus, 'He *s' denotes exist- 
ence simple and absolute; but existence may be modified indefinitely 
by the relations of its subject to some condition or quality: 'He is 
running,^ 'He is laughing,' 'He is talking,' 'He is loved,' 'He is 
hated,' 'He {^condemned'', by each of which we say strictly, that 
the running, laughing, talking, loved, hated, or condemned state, 
is that in which the person exists. Similarly, 'He is id,le,' 'He 
is ivise' ; where 'idle' and 'wise' may be deemed true modifiers 
of the verb relatively to the pronoun. The usual analysis, however, 
would dispose of ' is ' as copula, of ' idle ' and ' wise ' as adjectives 
(attributives) forming a part (complement) or the whole of the 
predicate; of 'is running,' 'is hated,' e/c, as verb-terms; and this 
disposition, as before remarked, may be conventionally accepted. 
It is sufficiently precise for practical purposes, 



130 ESSENTIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

Note VI. — A rigorous application of the principle of modifica- 
tion as elucidated above, enables us to go still farther, and to assert 
that the verb, with all its appendages, does in fact modify the sub- 
ject, which thus appears to be the nucleus of the sentence. 

Note VII. — If itself unmodified, the modifier is said to be sim- 
ple: (1) 'He loves wisdom.^ (2) *He is a lover of tvisdom.^ (3) 
'We hear that he is wise.' If modified, it is complex: (1) 'He 
built houses of stone.'' (2) 'He vsui with wonderful rapidity.' (3) 
' He said that the planets revolve, a ivell-known fact. If consisting 
of two or more coordinate parts, it is compound: (1) * Large and 
beautifid rivers.' (2) 'Men of wisdom and of power.' (3) 'They 
have decided that you should come, and that he should go.' Either 
constituent, it is evident, may be modified, and thus become com- 
plex. 

Note VIII. — A modifier, however extended, is said to be of the 
ivord-form, if its base (the fundamental portion) is a single term; 
of the phrase- form, if its base is a phrase ; of the clause-form, if its 
base is a clause. "Not infrequently, a primary base, with reference 
to a given modifier, becomes, in union with such modifier, a complex 
base, with reference to a second modifier. Thus in 'fragrant red 
roses,' the primary base is 'roses'; the secondary, 'red roses'; for 
'fragrant' modifies, not 'roses,' but the complex idea in 'red roses.' 

EXERCISES. 

1 . Distinguish between : ' He painted the blue box, ' and ' He 
painted the box Uue.' 

2. In the preceding, give the entire modifier of 'distinguish.' 
Is this of the word, phrase, or clause-form? What is it as to office f 
The incorporated sentences are the equivalents of what parts of 
speech ? 

3. Give the distinguishable shades of meaning in : ' Dido is 
queen,' 'Dido, a queen, walks,' ' Dido walks a queen,' ' Dido walks 
queenlike,' 'Dido walks majestically.' 

4. Investigate: 'myself,' 'ourselves,' 'herself,' 'themselves,' 
'himself,' 'itself.' 

5. Explain the construction in: 'Myself is weak.' • 



THE SENTENCE — SUBORDINATE ELEMENTS. 131 

6. Write a sentence containing, with reference to some modifier, 
a complex base. 

7. Write a sentence containing a complex modifier of the phrase- 
form. Write one with a complex modifier of the clause-form. 

8. Determine the subordinate parts ; whether they are adjective, 
objective, or adverbial elements; whether they are normally or 
abnormally (by equivalence) such; whether they are of the word, 
phrase, or clause-form ; whether simple, complex, or compound : 

(I) We live in better times. (2) My connections, once the 
source of happiness, now imbitter the reverse of my fortune. (3) 
He has a mind to discourse on that theme. (4) A mind at liberty to 
reflect on its own observations, seldom fails of entertainment to 
itself. (5) Toward night the school-master walked over to the 
cottage where his little friend lay sick. (6) Who can tell when he 
sets forth to wander, whither he may be driven by the uncertain 
current of existence, or when he may return? (7) What means this 
martial array, if its purpose be not to force us into submission? (8) 
Pope was not content to satisfy, he desired to excel, and therefore 
always endeavored to do his best. (9) He made them give up their 
spoils. 

(10) Money and man a mutual falsehood show. 

(II) Some pious drops the closing eye requires. 

(12) Oh she is 

• Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed. 

(13) guide me to the humble cell 
Where resignation loves to dwell. 

(14) With sanguine drops the walls are rubied round, 
And Nature in the tangles soft involved 

Of death-like sleep. 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE SENTENCE — INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS. 

Every opinion is strong enough to have had its martyrs.— Montaignii. 

T~N the use of speech for the purpose of communicating 
-*- ideas and feelings, we frequently employ expressions 
which are not reducible to any grammatical connection 
with the main parts of discourse. They have an ideal or 
emotive value in the sentence, but they do not enter 
syntactically into its structure. The type of the class is 
perhaps the interjection, rising from an almost inarticulate 
sound to a noun, verb, or phrase: 

Did we your race on mortal man bestow, 

Only, alas ! to share in mortal woe ? 

For ah ! what is there of inferior birth, 

That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth ; 

What wretched creature of what wretched kind, 

Than man more weak, calamitous, and blind ? — Homer. 

For rhetorical effect, words of ordinary language are em- 
ployed interjectionally: 

Alas! why comest thou at this dreadful moment, 
To shock the peace of my departing soul? 
Away ! I prithee leave me ! — Rowe. 

But all too little, welaway! lasteth such joy. — Chaucer. 

For, ly All-Hallows, yet methinketh 

That All-Hallows' breath stinketh. — Hey wood. 

What! is great Mephistopheles so passionate 
For being deprived of the joys of heaven? — Marlowe. 
132 



THE SENTEN'CE — IXDEPEN-DEN"T ELEME:N'TS. 133 

More or less closely connected with these typical forms 
are substantives, occurring in addresses or exclamations: 

God I God ! 
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, 
Seem to me all the uses of this world. — Shakespeare. 

Come, you spirits, 
71iat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here. — Ibid. 

Mortimer/ who talks of Mortimer? 

Who. wounds me with the name of Mortimer, 

That bloody man? — Marlowe. 

The isles of Greece! the isles of Greece/ 

Wliere lurning Sappho loved and sung. — Byron. 

Of like character, in their freedom from formal govern- 
ment, are phrases consisting of participles (expressed or 
implied) in agreement with a substantive different from 
the nominative of the verb: 

I shall not lag behind, nor err 
The way, thou leading. — Milton. 

On these and kindred thoughts intent, I lay 
In silence, musing by my comrade's side. 
He also silent. — Wordswort/i. 

Me howling blasts drive divious, tempest-toss'd, 

Sails ripp'd, seams opening wide, and compass lost. — Coivper. 

Sometimes the substantive is omitted, and then the parti- 
ciple is used itnpersonally — a construction, however, of 
questionable propriety: '■ Granting that you are rights 
what is the inference ? ' ' Talking of boohs, here is a rare 
one.' Some participles, in this way, gradually acquire the 
force of prepositions: ' Considering the circumstances, I 
do not think him to blame.' ' Notwithstanding our losses, 
we shall persevere.' 

Finally, words used in a preparatory way, or exple- 



134 ESSENTIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

lively, clauses without limitation or condition, and, in 
general, terms distantly connected perhaps with the utter- 
ance, yet not absolutely necessary to the sense, and 
ungoverned, are grammatically independent: 

Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? — Shahespeare. 
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods. — Byron. 

Somewhere in India upon a time 

{Read it not Injah, or you spoil the verse) 

There dwelt two saints whose privilege sublime 

It was to sit and watch the world grow worse 

Bach from his hut rushed six score times a day, 

Like a great Canon of the Church full-rammed 

With cartridge theologic {so to say), 

Touched himself off, and then, recoiling, slammed 

His hovel's door behind him in a way 

That to his foe said plainly, — you'll be damned. — Lowell. 

Bardolph, am I not fallen away? .... do I not bate? do I 
not dwindle? .... Why, my skin hangs about me like an old 
lady's loose gown ; . . . . Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while 
I am in some liking. — Shakespeare. 

Note I.— The student must not fall into the error of judging 
that interruptive or parenthetical parts are always independent. 
The proper criterion or test is, not the accident of position or punct- 
uation, but the connection of thought. Thus, the following paren- 
thesis is both grammatically and logically related to the leading 
verb: 

I do beseech you 
(Chiefly that I may set it in my prayers). 
What is your name? — Shakespeare. 

Often the only office of the curves is emphasis. They serve merely 
to draw particular attention to the matter within them. Again, 
'cried' and 'said,' in the following passages, are equally governing 
verbs : 

* Make me a cottage in the vale, ' she cried, 

* Where I may mourn and pray.'— Geo7'ge Miot. 



THE SENTENCE — INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS. 135 

And all his sorrow to the moon he told, 

And said, 'Surely when thou art horned new, 

I shall be glad — if all the world be true.' — Chaucer. 

The order of the latter is natural; of the former, rhetorical. To 
say that any organic relation is affected by the transposition, is 
absurd. Without changing the sense or the metre, we can read : 
'And sure,' he said, 'when thou art horned new 
I shall be glad — if all the world be true.' 

Note II. — Another erroneous and pernicious notion is, that ' it ' 
is without grammatical connection in such forms as: 

It cannot be that thou art gone. — Coleridge. 

Is it so small a thing, 

To have enjoyed the sun : 
To have lived light in the spring; 

To have loved, to have thought, to have done? 

— Matthew Arnold. 

So far from being a superfluous element, ' it ' is here an essential — 
the grammatical subject, with which the clause in the one case, and 
the infinitives in the other, are logically in apposition. The apposi- 
tives explain what the pronoun vaguely or indefinitely represents.^ 
A similar consti'uction is seen in ' I, John, am going ' ; or ' I, Alex- 
ander, king of Macedonia, make this decree.' Compare with either: 
'It, to see the sun, is pleasant '=' It is pleasant to see the sun.' 

Note III. — It is customary to treat pleonasms as independent 
elements, ' He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' 

To die, and go we know not where; 
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot ; . , . . 
To he imprisoned in the viewless winds. 
And Uoivn with restless violence about 
The pendant world; or to he ivorse than worst 
Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts 
Imagine howling! 'tis too horrible ! — Shakespeare. 

Note IV. — The detached participial clause, since its subject is 
loosed from its ordinary connection with the verb, is said to be 
absolute {ah, from ; solvere, to loose). 



136 ESSENTIALS OF EN'GLISH. 

Note V. — The absolute case is different in different languages: 
in the Greek, Genitive; in the Latin, Ablative; in Anglo-Saxon, 
Dative. 

Hence the following are historically correct: 

Him speaking these things, etc. — Wycliffe. 

Him destroyed, etc. — Milton. 

Him only excepted, etc. — Tillotson. 

In spite of history, however, if not of logic, modern English is 
decidedly in favor of the Nominative. 

Note VI. — Nominatives absolute, while they do not grammat- 
ically depend on any other word in the sentence, are logically 
adverbial modifiers. Thus, ^Spring coming, the flowers will bloom ' 
= ^When spring comes, the flowers will bloom '=' The flowers will 
bloom in spririg time.'' 

EXERCISES. 

Resolve the following into principal, subordinate, and independ- 
ent elements; that is, subject and predicate of the sentence as a 
whole, the modifiers of each, and parts (where there are such) that 
are neither principal nor subordinate. Be careful to discriminate, 
in eases, between grammatical independence and logical depend- 
ence: 

'Tis the mind that makes the body rich. — Shakespeare. 

Adders and serpents, let me breathe awhile ! — Marlowe. 

Man is a torch borne in the wind ; a dream 
But of a shadow. — Chapman. 

Great God of men and women, queen of th' ayre. 

Mother of laughter, and welspring of blisse, 

grauent that of my love at last I may not misse. — Spenser. 

Stella, think not that I by verse. seek fame. 

Who seek, who hope, who love, who live but thee; 

Thine eyes my bride, thy lips my history. — Sidney. 



THE SENTENCE — INDEPENDENT ELEMENTS. 137 

Then I shall be no more; 
And Adam, wedded to another Eve, 
Shall live with her enjoying; I extinct. — Milton. 

Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there. 

And made myself a motley to the view. 

Gored mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear. 



Ye toppling crags of ice! 
Ye avalanches, whom a breath draws down 
In mountainous overwhelming, come and crush me. — Byron. 

O ye judges! it was not by human counsel, nor by anything 
less than the immediate care of the immortal gods, that this event 
has taken place, — Cicero, 



CHAPTEE XIII. 
THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 

Considered in itself, a science is valuable in proportion as its cultivation is 
immediately conducive to the mental improvement of the cultivator.— Sir 
William Hamilton. 

A S to Structure. A simple sentence is the expres- 
-^--^ sion of a single act of thought. There may be 
several things of which something is asserted, and the 
subject is then said to be compound; as, ^Hope and fear 
are the bane of human life.' There may be several things 
asserted of the subject, and the predicate is then said to 
be compound; as, * Charity hopeth all things, believeth all 
things, endureth all things.' The modifiers may be com- 
pound; as, 'A diligent and prudent man will be success- 
ful.' Parts which do not modify each other are said to be 
coordinate^ — that is, of equal order or rank; as in the 
preceding sentence, or in the following: * The coach will 
leave the city — in the morning — before sunrise.'' 

Criterion. — The test of a simple sentence is, that it 
comprises only v)ords and phrases. 

If the sentence is of the form, * When the sun rose, 
the ship sailed,' it is no longer simple, since it contains 
two acts of thought, — two distinct subjects, 'sun' and 
' ship,' and two distinct predicates, ' rose ' and * sailed,' 
yet so put together as to form a whole. Another pecu- 
liarity is, that the first part, * when the sun rose,' indicates 
the time of sailing, and so modifies * sailed ' as a temporal 

138 



THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 139 

adverb. Such a sentence is said to be complex. Hence, 
a complex ' sentence consists of two or more simple sen- 
tences, one of which is principal and the others (clauses) 
subordinate. 

The connectives which attach dependent clauses and 
make complex sentences are: 

1. Relative Pronouns^ — *who,' * which,' 'what,' Hhat,' 
and * as.' 

2. Conjunctive"^ Adverbs, — Svhere,' * when,' 'while,' 
'how,' 'why,' etc. 

3. Subordinate Conjunctions, — ' that,' ' than,' ' as,' ' if,' 
* for,' etc. 

If the sentence is of the form, 'The sun rose, and the 
ship sailed,' it is neither simple nor complex. It is not 
simple, because it contains more than one combination of 
subject and predicate; it is not complex, because the 
statements composing it are grammatically independent of 
each other — neither modifies the other. Such a sentence 
is said to be compound. Hence a compound ^ sentence 
consists of two or more coordinate sentences. The coor- 
dinate parts of a compound sentence are called its mem- 
bers. The members themselves may be simple or complex: 
(1) 'One generation blows bubbles, and another bursts 
them.' (2) 'This part of knowledge is growing, and it 
will continue to grow till the subject is exhausted.' 

The connectives which join members, and make com- 
pound sentences are: 

1 . Copulatives, — ' and,' ' both ' • • ' and,' * not only ' • • 
'but also.' 

1 Latin con, with, plectere, to twii!t=to twist together. 

2 So called because, while they modify the verb of their own clause as 
adverbs, they also connect sentences. 

-Latin con, with, and ponere, to place = to place together. 



140 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

2. Disjunctives, — '■ or,' ' nor,' ' either ' • • ' or,' * neither ' 
••*nor.' 

3. Adversatives, — 'but,' * yet,' * still,' 'save,' etc. 

4. Jnferentials, — 'therefore,' 'hence," so,' 'then,'/ con- 
sequently.' 

Nearly the whole of this exposition may be illustrated 
thus: 

I am pleased, 



this has happened, 

iut 

I should have been disappointed 

if 

it had fallen out otherwise; 

and 

I think 

that 

even now some of my real 

or 

supposed friends will be more surprised by the arrangement 

than 

[they are] satisfied with it. 

As to use. A sentence that merely asserts a fact or 
enunciates a truth, is declarative : 

'The quality of mercy is not strained.' 

This is the one form recognized by Logic. Others are 
resolvable into it. Its types are: 

S is P. 
' S is not P= 
S is non-P. 

The subject of assertion is sometimes made the subject 
of inquiry. The sentence is then ifiterrogative^tormerly 
styled direct when it could be answered by *yes' or ' no '; 



THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 141 

and indirect when it could not be so answered; the first 
being introduced by the verb or its auxiliary, the second 
by some interrogative term — pronoun, adjective or ad- 
verb: ^ Have you seen Henry?' * TF7iO defeated Bur- 
goyne ? ' ' WJiere was he defeated ? ' * Which book have 
you ? ' In point of fact, as well as of logic, these are all 
of the direct form, and a proper indirect question is a 
dependent one — a clause that involves a question with- 
out actually putting it: 

Quid ipse sentiam exponam=l will explain ivhat I tliink. — 
Cicero. 

Quid sit futurum eras, fuge ^aoKre?-e= Forbear to ask what will 
be on the morrow. — Horace. 

The sentence may be intended to originate some action, 
and it is then said to be imperative — the mood of its 
principal verb: 

' Disturh his hours of rest with restless trances ; 
Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans.' 

Any sentence that gives passionate expression to hope, 
joy, desire, fear, anger, grief, or pain, is exclamatory : 

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful is man! — Young. 

Generally it partakes of the interrogative form, and is 
introduced by 'who,' 'what,' or 'how': ^Who would have 
thought it!' ''What a piece of work is man!' ^How 
grandly he moves! ' 

Note I. — Exclamatory sentences must be carefully distinguished 
from exclamatory phrases. 

Note II. — The same sentence may be in one class and another 
in different uses. Thus, — 

Shut the door . . . Imperative in form and meaning. 

Shut the door? . . Imperative in form, but direct interrogative 
in meaning. 



142 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Shut the door ! . . Imperative in form but exclamatory. 

How violently he shut the door ! . , . . Exclamatory in form and 
meaning. 

Henry is well . . . Declarative in form and meaning. 

Henry is well ? . . . Declarative in form but interrogative in 
meaning. 

Is Henry well? . . Interrogative in form and meaning. 

Note III. — The character of the sentence, as a whole, is deter- 
mined by the fundamental portion of it. Thus, though the follow- 
ing lines contain independent, exclamatory elements, the leading 
proposition is interrogative : 

'What! you, that loved! 
And T, that loved ! 
Shall we begin to wrangle? ' 
Similarly, this line is declarative, though it includes an imperative 
clause : 

'Full loud he sang, "Come hither, love, to me." ' 

Note IV. — Subordination, whether of modifiers in general, or of 
clauses in particular, maybe of various degrees: ' History tells us 
(1) that Socrates said (2) that he was declared hy the oracle to he the 
wisest of men (3) merely because he kneiv (4) that he knew nothing.' 
Here the object of the principal verb consists of four clauses, of 
which (1) is modified by (2), (2) by (3), and (3) by (4). Observe that 
* merely' throws the force upon the complex thought of (3) and (4), 
' merely because .... nothing '= 'merely for this reason '=' for 
this only.' 

Note V. — The process of breaking up a sentence into its com- 
ponent parts, exhibiting, as it were, its limbs and Joints, is called. 
Analysis.'^ The example should be first examined to see whether it 
is simple, complex, or compound. If simple, distinguish (1) the 
subject, (2) the modifiers of the subject, (3) the predicate, whether 
verb simple or copula and its complement; (4) modifiers of the pred- 
icate. Thus : 

Night, sable goddess, from her ebon throne. 

In rayless majesty, now stretches forth 

Her leaden sceptre, o'er a slumbering world. — Young. 

1 Greek ava.^ back, and Aua-is, loosening. 



THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 



143 



Subjects 'night.' 

Modifier = ' sahle goddess,' complex; base, 'goddess,' formally a 
noun in apposition, functionally an adjective element, 
itself modified by ' sable,' a normal adjective. 

Prec^icaife=' stretches,' transitive verb. 

1. 'her leaden sceptre,' complex; base, 'sceptre,' an 
objective noun, itself modified by 'leaden,' normal 
adjective, and ' leaden sceptre ' by ' her ' formally 
a pronoun in possessive case, functionally an ad- 
jective. 

2. 'forth,' adverb of place. 
Modifiers= ^ 3. ^now,' adverb of time. 

4. ' from her ebon throne,' "^ 
I 5. 'in ray less majesty,' 
6. ' o'er a slumbering 
world,' 



abnormal adverbs of 
place and manner, each 
to be resolved into 
base ( preposition and 
object) and modifiers. 



It may be said, but need not, that 'forth' is a constituent of 
the verb. The analysis of a complex sentence differs from this in 
no respect, save that clauses do the duty of single words or phrases, « 
and, having been treated first as single parts of speech, are in turn 
to be resolved into their elements. If the sentence is compound, its 
coordinate sentences (members) are to be analyzed separately : 

(1) ' The house fell 

and 

great was the fall thereof.' 

(2) ' He goes, 
hut 
it is intended that I should remain ' 
( = it, that I should remain, is intended). 

Elliptical expressions should be supplied. Thus, ' He is as tall as 
I [am tall].' ' I will go, if [it is] possible.' 'Oh, [if] might I see hell 
and return again, how happy were I then!' 



144 ESSEN-TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

EXERCISES. 

1. In the following, distinguish phrases and clauses from 
sentences: 

(1) The anchor clung. (2) His food with his trunk. (3) That 
your sister has returned. (4) But I am also a man. (5) Support of 
Troy! (6) We must conquer. (7) Go. (8) Not to know me. (9) 
As good for a sick man. (10) A peace which consults the good of 
both parties. (11) Whose hat is this? (12) Whose hat he took. 
(13) And there was light. (14) Too gay for an old man. (15) How 
long did he stay? 

2. Classify the following sentences (1) as to structure, (2) as to 
form : 

(1) They devoured the earth like an army of locusts. (2) He 
asked, ' How came I to do this? ' (3) It is too stormy for the boat to 
leave to-night. (4) What kind of people first inhabited England ? 
(5) Who ever achieved anything great in letters, arts, or arms, who 
was not ambitious ? (6) How many soldiers were killed in battle ? 
(7) We know not whence it comes or whither it goes. (8) Come as 
the winds come when navies are stranded. (9) Slow melting strains 
their queen's approach declare. (10) Morning dawned, and all 
fears were dispelled. (11) When morning dawned, all fears were 
dispelled. (12) Forbid it. Almighty God ! (13) I lisped in numbers, 
for the numbers came. (14) Having ridden up to the spot, the en- 
raged officer struck the unfortunate man dead with a single blow of 
his sword. (15) Life is real, life is earnest. (16) God sustains and 
governs the world. (17) We submit to the society of those that can 
inform us, but we seek the society of those we can inform. (18) 
Having decided what was to be done, he did it with might and main. 
(19) After performing these good offices, the stranger left. (20) 
When he had performed these good offices, he left. (21) He per- 
formed these good offices, and left. (22) The ship left at sunrise. 
(23) The ship left at the rising of the sun. (24) The ship left when 
the sun rose. (25) The sun rose, and the ship left. (26) For me to 
labor and for you to be idle would be unjust. (27) For me to labor 
while you are idle would be unjust. 



THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 145 

3. Indicate the grammatical and logical subjects and predicates 
of the preceding sentences, as well as of the following : 

(1) To tell all that we think is inexpedient. (2) Now fades the 
glimmering landscape on the sight. (3) Sweet is the breath of 
morn. (4) There can be no natural desire of artificial good. (5) 
Rising early is healthful. (6) It is unlawful to kill an innocent man. 
(7) Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. (8) Thee the 
voice, the dance, obey. (9) To whom shall I deliver the message? 
(10) Why do you weave around you this thread of occupation? (11) 
Whence comes this tumult? (12) How oft the sight of means to do 
ill deeds makes ill deeds done ! 

4. Tell whether the italicized parts are words, phrases, or 
clauses, and classify them as modifiers: 

(1) This was all excellent good. (2) Right against the eastern 
gate. (3) Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise. 
(4) He must needs die. (5) You that are nohle born should pity him. 
(6) Keats, a little before he died, said, 'I feel the daisies growing 
over me.' (7) No ticket will be issued after to-morrow. (8) No 
ticket will be issued the day after to-morrow. (9) After to-morrow 
is the bane of many a life. (10) I don't care a straw for him. (11) 
He strove to please you. (12) He thought to please you. (13) The 
effort to please you was of no avail. (14) Old John of Gaunt is griev- 
ous sick, my lord. (15) All tricks, they say, are fair iri love and 
war. (16) He died where he was horn. (17) He died in the place 
where he was horn. (18) Where he was horn is uncertain. (19) He 
traded with his available capital. (20) He traded with ivhat capital 
he had. 

5. Compose three sentences containing a noun phrase, three 
containing an adjective phrase, and three containing an adverb 
phrase. 

6. Compose three sentences illustrating the use of the clause as 
adverb, adjective, and noun. 

7. Compose three sentences illustrating the use of the adjective 
as an abnormal noun. 

8. Three illustrating the use of the two infinitives as abnormal 
nouns. 

10 



146 ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

9. Three illustrating the use of the clause or phrase as predicate. 

1 0. Compose five sentences that shall contain the five relative 
pronouns. 

1 1 . Compose interrogative sentences for the following intro- 
ductory words: who? whose? which? how? do? shall? would? 
can? does? may? where? when? why? 

1 2. Compose interrogative sentences for the following phrases, 
and classify the phrases as modifiers: in what? on what condition? 
by which? on whose account? for whom? 

1 3. Compose three complex interrogative sentences, and let the 
dependent clause denote time. 

14. Compose three exclamatory phrases, and three exclamatory 
sentences. 

15. Compose three compound sentences, in two of which one 
member shall be interrogative. 

16. Compose causal clauses to limit the following statements: 
(1) We left the city. (2) Cultivate agreeable manners. (3) Be slow 
to promise. (4) Improve your time. (5) Never reveal secrets. 

17. Compose conditional clauses, to limit the following: (1) We 
shall go. (2) The ice will melt. (3) He can perform the task. (4) 
The lecture will be postponed. (5) We shall be lost. 

18. Compose three simple sentences with compound subjects, 
and three with compound predicates. 

19. Compose five sentences containing the present progressive 
indicative, active voice. 

20. Five containing the past progressive active. 

2 1 . Five containing the past perfect active. 

22. Five containing the past perfect passive. 

23. Five containing the future perfect passive. 

24. Six illustrating the correct use of 'may,' 'might,' 'can,' 
'could,' 'would,' 'should.' 

25. Compose five sentences containing the nominative absolute, 
then expand the absolute phrases into clauses. 



THE SENTENCE — CLASSIFICATION. 147 

26. Combine the following statements into complex sentences — 
the first and second, the third and fourth, and so on — then abridge 
the subordinate clauses: 

We left. The sun set. A sudden noise alarmed us. We were 
sitting under a tree. He will retire from business. He has accu- 
mulated a fortune. He means well. He makes many blunders. 
The peaches fall to the ground. Charles shakes the tree. He will 
spend four years in the country. He will follow farming., 

[Consider carefully how the sentences are related in thought or 
idea.] 

27. Compose a compound sentence, each of whose members 
shall be complex. 

28. Compose five sentences containing adverbial clauses of pur- 
pose, then abridge the clauses into infinitive phrases. 

29. Is the following an example of the absolute construction? 
'And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days.' 

30. Analyze : 

The meeting points the sacred hair dissever, 
From her fair head for ever and for ever. — Pope. 

Fond fool ! six feet of earth is all thy store, 

And he that seeks for all shall have no more. — Bishop Hall. 

Most potent, grave, and reverend seigniors, 
My very noble and approved good masters. 
That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, 
It is most true: true, I have married her: 
The very head and front of my offending 
Hath this extent, no more. — Shakespeare. 



OHAPTEE XIV. 
THE SENTENCE — CAPITALIZATION. 

Our most considerable actions are always present, like capital letters to an 
aged and dim eye.— Jeremt Taylor. 

~T~ ANGUAGE is a medium of communication. A prin- 
-*--* cipal condition of its efficiency, therefore, is clear- 
ness of expression. The important aids to this end — 
the choice and order of terms and constructions that 
are reputable and effective — will be considered hereafter. 
At present, attention is called to those which are minor 
or supplemental, though far from inessential. *A little 
thing,' says an ancient philosopher, 'gives perfection; but 
perfection is not a little thing.' For example, compare — 
*'T0 THEE WE BOW, FRIEND, FATHER, KING OF KINGS!/' 
with — 

''To thee we bow, Friend, Father, King of kings!" 

Now let any person conceive an entire page to be printed 
in the style of the first, and another in the style of the 
second, then he may estimate the adv^mtages of a just 
distinction of symbols into greater and less. The former 
is uniform, vague, and requires study that it may be 
understood; the latter is differential, definite, and in- 
stantly intelligible. The one confounds the special with 
the ordinary; the other discriminates them. Thus, *king' 
in its general application is begun with a small letter — 
the size predominant; but its particular application is 
marked by a larger initial: that is, prominence of the idea 

148 



THE SENTEKCE — CAPITALIZATION. 149 

demands a corresponding prominence of the sicpi. Sim- 
ilarly, if we wish to combine ^sea' and 'dead' — the one 
a common name and the other a common attribute — and 
to designate by the combination a single object, this 
peculiar use is rendered visible by initial capitals: 'Dead 
Sea.' Observe, also, the distinction between 'Long 
Island' and 'a long island'; between 'Green Mountains' 
and 'green mountains'; between 'General Jackson ' and 
'Jackson, the general'; 'Concord River' and 'the river 
Concord.' Each is an illustration of the generic converted 
into the specific, the internal modification being noted by 
an external device. Most mountains are green, but some 
are preeminently so. In 'general,' as an appositive, we 
have a class-name; but custom decrees that a certain mil- 
itary genius shall be known by a compound — 'General 
Jackson.' A river is a stream, and concord is peace; and 
an individual stream may be designated (1) by elevating 
the abstract ' concord ' into an appellative ' Concord,' then 
placing this distinctive word in apposition to the class; 
or (2), without any regard to grammatical relations, by 
consenting that 'river' shall become an inseparable con- 
stituent, which would be more in conformity with usage. 
'Hudson River' is customary and integral; 'the river 
Hudson' is neither. 

Likewise, with small initial, 'lord' denotes men of 
authority and power in general; with initial capital, it is 
applied to God, or to a particular person, as 'Lord Bacon.' 
In the following invocation, 'thou' is capitalized to show 
its reference to the Deity: 

' Thou whose love can ne'er forget its offspring, man ! ' 

The presence of the antecedent, however, renders such 



150 ESSEI^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

capitalization quite unnecessary, since the reference is 
perfectly clear without it: 

'These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good, 
Almighty! thine this universal frame, 
Thus wondrous fair: thyself, how wondrous then!' 

We write 'the constitution of the world/ but 'the Consti- 
tution of the United States'; 'the reformation of charac- 
ter,' but 'the Reformation of Luther'; 'a revolution in 
politics,' but 'the Revolution of 1776'; 'democratic prin- 
ciples,' but ' the principles of the Democratic party.' The 
foundation of the difference is, that the tise of a word as 
a proper name requires an initial capital. It is for this 
reason that the significant terms in the titles of books, 
which are really names of individual objects, are capital- 
ized: Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' 

If the writer attaches peculiar weight to a word, he 
may express the fact to the reader's eye by capitalizing 
either all the letters or the initial one. Thus, when a word 
is being defined, it is not unusual to commence it with a 
capital. Who has not observed how customary it is, in 
advertisements, to begin with capitals the names of the 
leading objects to which it is desired to draw attention? 

Though not for the sake of emphasis, yet still to assist 
the reader's understanding, the beginnings of sentences, 
while marked by certain points or stops, are also capital- 
ized; and when one sentence is contained in another as a 
quotation, without change of form or introductory con- 
nective, the initial capital is retained: 'Remember the 
maxim, "Honesty is the best policy;'" but, 'Remember 
that " honesty is the best policy." ' 

Enough has been said to make it clear that capital 
letters are, fundamentally, mechanical devices to give to 



THE SENTENCE — CAPITALIZATIOK. 151 

certain ideas a visible preeminence — to represent the con- 
spicuity of the thing by the conspicuity of its symbol. 
This explains, essentially, the former custom of employing 
them with far greater frequency than now. Almost every 
noun, almost every word of the slightest importance, once 
had its initial thus distinguished. A passage from Claren- 
don's History of the Rebellion^ on the death of Lord 
Strafford, will furnish a moderate specimen: 

Thus Fell the greatest Subject in power, and little inferior to 
any in Fortune, that was at that time in any of the three King- 
doms; Who could well remember the time when he led those People 
who then pursued him to his Grave. He was a man of great Parts, 
and extraordinary Endowments of Nature; not unadorned with 
some addition of Art and Learning. 

Thus, too, Carlyle, and others of the German school of 
thought and expression, show at this day a like tendency 
to superabundance: 

To the eye of vulgar Logic, what is man? An omnivorous Biped 
that wears Breeches. To the eye of Pure Reason, what is he? A 
Soul, a Spirit, and divine Apparition. Round his mysterious Me, 
there lies, under all those wool rags, a Garment of Flesh (or of 

Senses), contextured in the Loom of Heaven Deep-hidden is 

he under that strange Garment; amid Sounds and Colors and 
Forms, as it were, swathed-in, and inextricably over-shrouded ; yet 
it is sky-woven, and worthy of a God.^ 

The prevailing practice, however, limits capitalization 
chiefly to the following applications: 

1. The first word of a sentence. 

2. The first word of a line of poetry. 

3. The first word of a direct quotation — one express- 
ing a thought, and not introduced by a conjunction. 

4. The first word of statements enumerated in a formal 

manner. Thus: 

1 Sartor Resartus. 



152 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

' To establish the similarity of two polygons, it must be proved : 
(1) That they are mutually equiangular; (3) That their correspond- 
ing sides are proportional.' 

5. The first word of an illustrative example (a quota- 
tion, or assumed to be such), if it forms a complete state- 
ment; as, * A good conscience is a continual feast.' 

6. Proper names; hence names of the months and 
days of the week, all of which are proper in origin and 
use; hence, also, the important words in the title of a 
book or essay, and all appellations of the Deity. 

7. Proper adjectives. 

8. The pronoun ' I ' and the interjection * O.' 

9. Names of objects vividly Y^ersonified: 

Break, break, break, 

On thy cold, gray stones, Sea ! — Tennyson. 

10. Titles of office and honor, when descriptive of per- 
sons or addressed to them. 

Note I. — The original of ' capital ' is the Latin capitalis, from 
caput, head; and large letters are so called because they are usually 
placed at the heads of words or sentences. 

Note II. — A quotation is direct when the idea or thought is pre- 
sented in the exact language of the writer or speaker ; as, ' Bion said, 
"Know thyself.'' ' It is indirect when the substance, without the form 
is given ; as Bion said that we should Icnow ourselves. The first is 
known in Latin as oratio recta; the second, as oratio oUiqua. 

Note III. — Not infrequently words derived from proper names 
have lost their primary reference, like coins that are worn and faded 
by currency. Such are usually written with small initials : ' stento- 
rian,' synonymous with 'loud,' from Stentor, a fabulous personage 
noted for the strength of his lungs; * china ' (ware), ' turkey ' (fowl), 
'prussic,' 'damask,' 'hermetical,' 'epicurean'; 'to hector,' 'to ro- 
mance,' ' to galvanize.' 



THE SENTENCE — CAPITALIZATION. 153 

Note IV. — *0' and * oh 'are both emotive: but the former is 
commonly used only before the names of objects addressed, is seldom 
succeeded by punctuation, and must always be a capital ; the latter 
is used by itself, expresses a deeper feeling, has a comma or excla- 
mation point after it, and, except at the commencement of a sen- 
tence, begins with a small letter: 

thou ! that, with surpassing glory crown'd, 
Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god 
Of this new world, at whose sight all the stars 
Hide their diminished heads; to thee 1 call. 
But with no friendly voice and add thy name, 

Sun ! to tell thee how I hate thy beams. 
That bring to my remembrance from what state 

1 Ml.— Milton. 

Dear fatal name ! rest ever unrevealed, 
Nor pass these lips in holy silence sealed. 
Hide it, my heart, within that close disguise, 
Where, mix'd with God's, his lov'd idea lies. 
Oh I write it not, my hand ! his name appears 
Already written: — blot it out, my tears! 

— Tope, : Eloise to Ahelard. 

Note V. — In personification, though strong, it should be consid- 
ered whether an individual or a class, whether one object or a plu- 
rality, is personified ; that is, whether the name should be regarded 
as proper or common. The distinction is well illustrated in Adam's 
impatient invocation of the world to know his origin : 

Thou Sun, said I, fair light! 
And thou enlightened Earth, so fresh and gay! 
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods and plains, 
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell, 
Tell, if you saw, how came I thus, how here? — Milton. 

Note VI. — These observations suggest that every rule of capi- 
talization derives its validity and value from this principle, — that 
the cardinal design of capitals is to exhibit to the eye the idea; con- 
sequently, that their different uses are mainly reducible to two, the 
indication of proper names, and the indication of emphasis. In any 



154 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

given ease, let it be asked rather why they should be employed than 
why they should be omitted. 

Note VII. — It follows, moreover, from the essential function of 
capitals — to bring out the meaning of a sentence — that something 
must be allowed to taste. What is not evidently imperative, may 
be admissible, though not accordant with the best practice. Within 
reasonable limits the usage of the same or of different writers may 
properly vary: 

The cane-brakes of the state of Louisiana. — Bancroft. 

The union of the States. — Everett. 

Used in Louisiana and some neighboring states. — Worcester. 

The people in his own state. — Bryant. 

The States of Italy. — Macaulay. 

In the service of a single state. — Ibid. 

For the Bar or the Pulpit. — Mandeville. 

He is member of the har. — Worcester. 

the barren shore! — Tennyson. 

well for the sailor lad! — Ihid. 

Love, if death be sweeter, let me die. — Ibid. 

Oh soul! be changed into small water-drops. — Marlowe. 

Christ, my Saviour, my Saviour! — Ibid. 

then his lines would ravage savage ears. — Shakespeare. 

O gentle lady, do not put me to it. 

For I am nothing, if not critical. — Ibid. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Explain the capitalization: 

Malicious Envy rode 
Upon a ravenous wolf, and still did chaw 
Between his cankered teeth a venomous toad, 
That all the poison ran about his jaw. — Spenser. 

And is there care in Heaven? and is there love 
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base. 
That may compassion of their evils move? — Ibid. 



THE SENTENCE — CAPITALIZATION. 155 

One cried, 'God bless us!' and 'Amen,' the other; 
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands. 
Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,' 
When they did say, 'God bless us!' — Sliakespeare. 

Rare Ben Jonson. — Inscription on Jonson''s Tomb. 

In the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall 
hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy 
Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than 
the felicities of Solomon. — Lord Bacon. 

One fatal tree there stands, of Knowledge call'd, 
Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbidden? — Milton. 

When I was young? Ah, woful 'when'! 

Ah, for the change 'twixt Now and Then! — Coleridge. 

The ladies who carry fans under me are drawn up twice a day in 
my great hall, where they are instructed in the use of their arms, 
and exercised by the following words of command: Handle your 
fans, Unfurl your fans. Discharge your fans. Ground your fans, 
Recover your fans. Flutter your fans. — Addison. 

lyric Love, half angel and half bird. 

And all a wonder and a wild desire! — Browning. 

1 shall die with confusion, if I am forced to advance! Oh, no, 
I can never advance. I shall swoon, if I should expect advances. — 
Congreve, 

2. Distinguish : 

He referred to the union of the States. 

The Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the Laws. 
— Henry Clay. 

Solomon says, ^ Pride goeth before destruction.' 

Solomon says that 'pride goeth before destruction.' 

With Mr. Headly, an event always ^transpires.' — Poe. 

And, ^This to me?' he said. — Scott. 

Wave your tops, ye pines. —Milton. 

This struck the Oak, with a thought of admiration. — j^sop. 

The design of an infinite Creator. — John Wilson. 



156 ESSENTIALS OF e:n^glish. 

Either the world had a crtator, or it existed by chance. — Prof. 
Qihhs. 

He has many friends. 

William Penn with a few Friends. 

A chapter in your history. 
A chapter in your History. 

He was educated in a university. 
He visited the University. 

The devils apart sat on a hill retired. — Milton. 
They have coined out of Machiavelli's Christian name a nick- 
name (Nick) for the Devil. 

3. Make the necessary corrections, giving the reasons : 

(1) We had much pleasure. (2) My name is pleasure. (8) The 
entrance into the garden of hope was by two gates : one of which 
was kept by reason, and the other by fancy. (4) The general assem- 
bly meets on the first monday in January. (5) Let not the snares of 
the world, Oh my Son, take away your heart from good. (6) Three 
cheers were given for the 'champion of the south.' (7) The bible 
says, 'children, obey your parents.' (8) She is gone to him that 
comforteth as a father comforteth. (9) The president lives in the 
white house. (10) These birds go South in Winter, but return in 
Spring or Summer. (11) At length the toleration act was sent down 
to the commons. (12) He flattered himself that the tories might be 
induced to make some concessions to the dissenters, on condition 
that the whigs would be lenient to the Jacobites. (13) See art's fair 
Empire o'er our shores advance. (14) Burke's ' philosophical inquiry 
into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful,' and 
allison's ' essays on the nature and principles of taste, ' are works of 
permanent value. (15) The reign of queen Anne is generally 
admitted to have been the augustan age of English literature. (16) 
The norman conquest was the means of introducing chivalry and 
the feudal system into England. (17) The wars of the roses deso- 
lated britain between the years 1455 and 1485. (18) The work is 
admirably adapted to the use of schools : 



THE SENTENCE — CAPITALIZATION. 157 

by thorough and varied exercises ; 

by frequent and complete reviews ; 

by simplicity of terras and arrangement. 

(19) To the memory of 

William Wordsworth, 

a true philosopher and poet, • 

who by a special gift and calling of almighty god, 

whether he discoursed on man or nature, 

failed not to lift up the heart to holy things, 

tired not of maintaining the cause of the poor and simple, 

and so, in perilous times, was raised up to be 

a chief minister; not only of noblest poesy, 

but of high and sacred truth. ^ 

Suggestion. — Let it here be required to distinguish, among 
significant and important terms, those which are preeminent. 

4. Express correctly (with period after each) the abbreviations 
of the following: 

Connecticut, captain, massachusetts, president, alabama, colonel, 
nebraska, October, april, county, iowa, example, credit, ohio, doctor, 
master, maine, mister, mistress, saint, street, Vermont, number, post 
office, new hampshire, member of congress, before christ, collect on 
delivery. 

5. Illustrate, from Shakespeare, Tennyson, Longfellow, Scott, 
or George Eliot, six different uses of capital letters. 

1 Inscription on the murai monument in Grasmere Church. 



CHAPTEE XY. 
THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 

The particulars first, then the generalization.— Spencer. 

And how did Garrick speak the soliloquy ? Oh ! against all rule ; most un- 
grammaticaUy. Between the nominative case,which your lordship knows should 
govern the verb, he suspended his voice a dozen times, three seconds and three 
fifths, by a stop-watch, my lord, each time.— Sterne. 

KEFERENTIAL. — The meaning of a sentence is made 
clear chiefly by a proper arrangement of its words; 
but sometimes, in spoken language, by proper pauses; 
and, in written or printed discourse, by proper punctu- 
ation. Marks so employed are called, from their effect, 
stops; from their appearance, points^ the Latin for which 
is punctum. 

It is often desired, for example, to refer the reader to 
some note, explanation, or other matter in the margin of 
a page or at the end of a chapter or book. For this pur- 
pose the following points have been in general use: 

Star, or Asterisk (*) Section (§) 

Dagger, or Obelisk (f) Parallels (||) 

Double Dagger, or Diesis (J) Paragraph (^) 

These are used in the order here presented, and are 
placed, somewhat in the manner of algebraical exponents, 
over words from which, and also at the head of those to 
which, reference is made. When references on any page 
are numerous, the above marks, if others are required, are 
simply doubled. 

158 



Comma 


{,) 


Period 


(•) 


Dash 


(-) 


Blank 




Apostrophe 


■(') 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 159 

More recently, however, it has been regarded as an im- 
provement, in simplicity and neatness, to use letters or 
figures of a smaller size, technically styled, from their 
position, superiors; as, ^ or \ A cursory inspection of 
the late leading publications of Europe or America will 
show how rapidly the earlier notation is becoming obsolete. 

Elliptical. — Omissions are various, and the devices 
that indicate them are correspondingly so: 

Caret (a) 

Ditto (" or ") 

Stars (******) 

Dots (. ) 

Hyphens ( ) 

A connective, for example, may be omitted: 

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 
Shrunk to this little measure? — Shakespeare. 

A word may be abbreviated: 

Dr. H. Marsh, F.R.S. ; b. 1757, d. 1839. 

Intermediate letters, figures, or words may be suppressed: 

By H ns!=By Heavens! 

Matt, ix, l-6=Matt. ix, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 

'She replied that Mrs. Divinity, my lady 's gentle-woman, 

told her all the maids at had tea, and saw company of an after- 
noon,' 

Sometimes there is an ellipsis of 'namely,' or terms of 
similar import, introducing an appositional element: 

' The four great names in English poetry are almost the first we 
come to, — Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton.' 



160 ESSENTIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

A poetical quotation is often curtailed at the beginning, 
and formerly a long dash was customary: 

* In the soul 



Are many lesser faculties which serve 
Eeason, as chief.' 

The prevalent rule, however, is to leave a blank, the posi- 
tion of the lines being a sufficient guide for the under- 
standing: 

* Oh ! it is excellent 
To have a giant's strength.' — Shakespeare. 

The omission of letters and figures is shown also by the 
apostrophe: 'the spirit of '76 '; * I've ' for ' I have '; "tis' 
for ' it is '; * don't ' for * do not ' ; ' can't ' for ' cannot.' 

* Thou' It yet survive the storm, and bloom in Paradise.' 

' For who but He that arched the skies 
Could rear the daisy'' s purple bud?' 

The last is explained by the Anglo-Saxon genitive end- 
ing, es. Thus ' king''s^ =c^mng-es^=zre^-is. Consider, fur- 
ther, such allied forms as: 

Cross your fs, dot your fs, cancel your x's, and make your 5's 
better. 

An insert in manuscript is thus indicated: 

p are 

Disapointments and trials often blessings in disguise. 

A A 

To indicate that something is understood which is ex- 
pressed in the line and word immediately above, two 
commas are occasionally employed: 

10 lbs of coffee, @ 10 cts per pound $1.00 

12 a ii sugar, i<. ^% i>. ti << 1.00 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 161 

A line of stars indicates that some part of a quotation is 
omitted: 

The rolling year 
Is full of Thee. Forth in a pleasing spring 
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love. 
***** 

Echo the mountains round, the forest smiles, 

And every sense and every heart is joy. — Thomson. 

The present tendency is to substitute dots, or periods, as 
more agreeable to the eye: 

Thought engenders thought. Place one idea on your paper, 
another will follow it, and still another, until you have written a 

page. You cannot fathom your mind The key to every man 

is his thought He can only be reformed by showing him a 

new idea which commands his own! — Emerson. 

When dots or hyphens are used to lead the eye to the end 
of a line for a completion of the sense, as in the tabular 
contents of a book, or in the preceding bill of items, they 
are called leaders. 

Etymological. — Several of the foregoing uses of 
punctuation, as abbreviation and elision, might with equal 
propriety be considered here; but not to recur to these, 
etymological points indicate, in general, something about 
the formation of words; in particular: 

1. — The separation of contiguous vowels: — by the 
diceresis; as, * cooperate,' ' zoology.' Note the position. 
Less frequently a hyphen is used, as *pre-existent.' 

2. — The quantity of a syllable: — if long, by the ma- 
cron^ as 'fate'; if short, b}^ the breve, as 'fat.' In verse, 
where stress constitutes length, these signs, when it is 
11 



162 ESSENTIALS OE ENGLISH. 

desired to make the quantity apparent, are placed over 
the accented and unaccented syllables: 

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 

The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea. — Gray. 

3. — Accentual pronunciation : by the acute, as ' phil- 
os'opher'; by the grave, as in poetry, to signify that a 
syllable commonly suppressed in utterance, must be sepa- 
rately sounded for the sake of the metre: 

The tackle of my heart is cracked and burnt; 
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail, 
Are turned to one thread, one little hair. — Shakespeare. 

By the circumflex, as ' war.' In elocution, the first de- 
notes rising inflection; the second, falling; the third a 
wave, or combination of both. To these may be added 
the cedilla, placed under c in some unnaturalized French 
words, to show that, contrary to analogy, it has the sound 
of s, 'fa9ade,' 'ghaise'; the filde (over n^^ny) of frequent 
occurrence in Spanish, as *seJQor.' 

4. — The union of simple words in a compound : by the 
Hyphen, when the constituents do not completely coalesce; 
as, * the incense-hreathing morn.' 

5. — Syllabicatio7i, or the division of words into sylla- 
bles : either when it is desired to exhibit the parts, as ' re- 
ject-ed '; or when it is necessary to put a portion into the 
next line, — 

'Pyrrhus, you tempt a danger high, 
When you would steal from angry li- 
oness her cubs.' 

The subjoined rules, which cover most cases of such 
division, may be of service: 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 163 

(1) Join consonants to the vowels whose sounds they 

modify; as, ' ep-i-dem-ic,' ' an-i-mos-i-ty.' 

(2) Prefixes and suffixes form distinct syllables, when 

possible without misrepresenting the pronuncia- 
tion; as, 'form-er,' 're-print,' ' dis-grace-ful.' 

(3) In the case of compounds, the divisions fall be- 

tween the simple constituents; as 'horse-man,' 
* more-over.' 

Typographical. — In an age of writers and printers, 
not a few persons are likely to become connected in some 
way with the public press. For the convenience of such, 
we give a specimen 'proof-sheet,' exhibiting the marks 
used in the correction of errors, which even the best of 
'compositors' will make in the arrangement of the types. 
The other symbols are self-explanatory. 



164 ESSENTIALS OF EJiTGLISH. 



SPECIMEN OF PROOF-SHEET MARKED FOR CORRECTION. 

Mr. THOMAS. I Ho not wish to ^reseigthat as the view of X i^ 
^ the gentleman from Miss^issippi if at; was the view of another. All 
0( I have «ew-to say is, it wa s the coyrec t v^w( And .let me say it^==: 
/— / was the correct view, Jor this reason, that^the committee were re- ' -^ 
striated as to eviden'ce, and could not go to the centre) of the evi- o v 
^Wc^' Referred to them in the pending, contest; and. 4h^ no gentle^n^of ] 
^that committee influenced by any view of the .case which he might' 
have ^rom ^ having ^looked into the ^evidence. I^relating to V^ the «<y f" 
tf (contest/tTending^. In the case Clark vs. Giddings, I believe the 

majority of the Committee on Elections thought Clark could he^m'mrr' . 
seated after he had been admitted to a prima facie, seat and had VfoA/ 

beensworn^ni^ ^ 

ruj^ III/ ^'And itlurned out that lie was afterward unseated, j Perhaps ll 

I am about to speak hastily, but I will savl think, if I knew now /iWTl 
-\ today that Wiltshire, would upon the hearing of his contested-- 
C ^ e(ect3oncase be declared not elected to the seat^till it would sjvTmti 
be tlie iu^ty of the Committee on Elections to report this resolu^ 4 
^ tion, and the duty of the Nouse to admit him to a seat, until the ^ ^ 
^ question of fact is ascertained, a n djtlie case decided up on its merits. _ 
^1 The committee have nothin^ien, to do with that view of it; that JN^ 

' is a matter .to come up hereafter. Is there any objection to tBat| 1^ ' ,- 
a ^ow let me go back to what I was about to cite, to show t^at this. Ar.Cr, ^ 
5) (1 ^certificate Ts in proper form, or in form ^ords which I do not con- ^ 
^ I ' jsider material), to the case of Foster against C^sar. In that (/^\ 

case the governor had issued a proclamation as to which the com- 
TW^ ""mittee say it is a blank in reference ta' the (|Tg) ^i^^"^'^^*' ^^^ they MA 
did not consider it. . n 

^ uUn the very face of the certificate the (governor states, that. A.C/. 
l\ as the acting governor had faled to issue a certificate, for that ^ | 

fl reason he (the governor) certifies S' that the fore\going statement V J^ ^ 

J km ^vith the explanatory notes "is a " full, true, and correct exhibit 
^ of the votes polled for the Representative from the third congres-- 

sional district of Arkansas, Mr. Warren.^ ^ y- m 

^-^ I yield fifteen minute sto the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 

>ft.<J<\!lV^ Harrison]. 

'CftiKi Mr. H arrison. I want to ask the chairman ^Mr. Sh|kks1 if the ^.V. 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 165 



w EXPLANATION. ->^ 

(J also written dele; Lat. delere, to blot out; a technically-shaped terminal O H 



M 



Lat. stet, let it stand. The dots under should not be omitted 
I"! em* dash. An en* dash may be more clearly expressed thus/-/ g 
W~ the first two letters of the word transpose; reverse the order of words or letters 
/UWVlAV make no paragraph. The line is indispensable, but this with 'HO l| will bo plain 



\ 



m^ 



hyphen. No other mai'k, or remark, is necessai-y in tlie margin of proof 

O- bring words or letters close together 

□ em* quadrat. An en* quadrat should be marked ^AA/Yt 

<S5 turn around. This mark is different from a but is frequently mistaken for it 

V bring out to line, or bring thus far to left. To move to right express thus^ 

a thin metal plate used between lines. t Surface of lead shown on opposite page 

Vrik* transpose space so as to make proper woi-ds-, change one space with another 

^ substitute pei-fect for imperfect type 

AWp the first letters of the words wrong font. A font is a series of type 

; — ' make words or letters range, or line properly 

^ push down below type-height so as not to appear 

^ observe matter encircled. This mark does not necessarily suggest error J 

t correctness of matter encircled is questioned 

"{^.fl? equalize space between words or lines 

(JV£V take over to the beginning of the next line 

moh ^^^ Italic type. Roman type should be indicated thus ^IflW 

M make paragraph. 

^yJl(|^(AvU/ insert as copy. This means that matter is omitted, for which see original copy 

\\ interrogation-point. This reference should not be confounded with the query mark 

\i^^ use lower-case letters. The ordinai-y body-type of a book is called lower-case 

4,tJk|^ diphthong. The kern over represents a ligature, and should always be marked Mi\ 

^MOl/ spell instead of using figures; or the woi'd or words may be written in the margin 

^ inverted comma. One of two points being wrong ( ', ), both may be marked {/ 

take out, leaving no space. The mark below the u means close up 

J&.COlM use small capitals. One letter may be marked XC: or it may be indicated thus fV\ 

\j^^ use capitals. One letter may be written in margin, thus ()\/\ 

* An em quadrat iri a space tho thickness of the letter m of the type used; an en is half 

that thickness, or a space equal to the letter n 

t The word lead is also used as a verb, and means to lead out, or put leads between the lines 
t These marks should never appear unnoticed in margin of proof returned to printers ; the 

necessary correction should he made or the reference marked off 



166 ESSENTIALS OF Eiq"GLISH. 

Hhetorical. — It is obvious that the chief requirement 
of a good sentence is a proper arrangement of its parts. 
Observe, for instance, the ambiguity of relation in the 
following : 

'Several men died in my ship of fever.' 

• I hope not much to serve those whom I shall not happen to 
please.' 

'The rabid animal, before it could be killed, severely bit Mr. 
Hutton and several other dogs.' 

' It is folly to pretend to arm ourselves against the accidents of 
life by heaping up treasures ivhich nothing can protect us against 
but the good providence of God.' 

In order that the logical or grammatical dependence may 
be instantly apparent, a rearrangement is necessary, con- 
formably to the rule that qualifying elements must be 
placed as near as possible to those which they qualify: 

' It is folly to pretend, by heaping up treasures, to arm ourselves 
against the accidents of life, against which nothing but the good 
providence of God can protect us.' 

Everyone has observed, too, how greatly, in spoken address, 
clearness is promoted by the arts of elocution, especially 
by proper pauses and inflections. We have seen, also, 
how certain devices that appeal to the eye, as ca2ntals 
and r)iarkSy conduce to make written language more effec- 
tive by exhibiting ideas with greater precision and defin- 
iteness. Of these secondary aids, we are now to consider 
the most important — the application of those points 
which are principally employed to indicate separation in 
the relations of the thought or some peculiarity in its 
nature. 

1. 'The troops landed and killed a hundred Indians.' 
Here 'Indians' is the common object of the two verbs. 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 167 

To restrict it to tlie second, a point must be inserted after 
the first: 'The troops landed, and killed a hundred In- 
dians.' 

2. ' I can not violate my oath to support the Constitu- 
tion.' It is here implied that the infinitive phrase modifies 
'oath.' If logically connected with 'violate,' its separa- 
tion from the former should be denoted thus: 'I can not 
violate my oath, to support the Constitution.' 

3. 'I said he is dishonest, it is true; and I am sorry 
for it.' This differs widely from: 'I said he is dishonest; 
it is true, and I am sorry for it.' Of what is 'true' 
affirmed in the two cases? 

4. '"John," said Thomas, "would come if he could."' 
Omit the marks, and two essentially different meanings 
are possible. 

5. ' My son is the man responsible.' This is capable 
of three constructions, one of which must be indicated to 
the ear or to the eye, before any exactness can be attained. 

(1) * Son ' may be subject and the sentence declarative. 

(2) * Son ' may be subject, and the sentence interrogative 
in thought. (3) 'Son' may be independent, and the sen- 
tence interrogative in thought and form. (1) requires a 
period at the end; (2), a question-mark; and (3), a comma 
after ' Son,' additionally. 

6. Compare: 

' You did not see 

him, then? 
' He gave the ideal, 

foo, of beauty. 
' So, pleased at first, 

the Alps we try.' j 



Vwitl 



' You did not see liim theri 9 ' 

' He is too bad to go there too,'' 

' So pleased at first, 

the Alps we try.' 



168 ESSENTIALS OF EXGLISH. 

7. ' The patriot disturbances in Canada wakened deep 
interest among the people of the United States who lived 
adjacent to the frontier.' The apparent meaning is, that 
all Americans live near the frontier. The true meaning 
is, that the alleged interest was felt only b}' the frontier 
portion. In the one view, the relative clause is paren- 
thetical — not vitally related. In the other, it is restrictive 
— essentially connected, and the comma should be omitted. 
Similarly, 'All the cabin passengers, situated beyond the 
centre of the boat, were saved.' Were all so situated and 
saved, or only a certain small part ? 

8 * Far below the little stream of the Oder foamed 
over the rocks.' The reader naturally enunciates 'the 
little stream of the Oder,' as in the objective case after 
' below,' although quickly warned by the predicate to go 
back and read differently. The confusion is avoided by 
cutting off ^ far below,' or bj'- placing it in the predicate, 
where it logically belongs, as a modifier of 'foamed.' 

9. 'When the day returned the professor, the artist, 
and I rowed to within a hundred yards of the shore.' 
The true meaning will be developed by a comma after re- 
turned, or by shifting the transposed part: 'The professor, 
the artist, and I, rowed, when the day returned, to within 
a hundred yards of the shore.' It will be noticed that the 
interpolation between ' rowed ' and its adverbial phrase 
demands tlie insertion of two points. A comma is neces- 
sary to show that the temporal clause limits ' rowed ' less 
than does the local; for it is evident that the iche?i is here 
not so important as the where. The former is a subordin- 
ate circumstance; the latter is the essential fact to be 
expressed, and hence is restrictive. A comma is also nee- 



THE SEXTEXCE — PUXCTUATIOX. 169 

essary to make it plain that ' returned ' is not modified 
by what follows. 

10. 'Since our journey began it had rained in torrents 
and now both horse and rider refused to go a step farther.' 
Here, we may say, are two articulations, or joints: one 
after ' began,' which is the less; one after 'torrents,' which 
is the greater. If the first requires a comma, the second 
will therefore require a semi-colon: 'Since our journey 
began, it had rained in torrents; and now both horse and 
rider refused to go a step farther.' 

11. 'There are three genders the masculine the femin- 
ine and the neuter.' Here we have three appositives, 
coordinate modifiers of 'genders.' A point is required 
after the first to show an ellipsis of ' and' ; hence after the 
second to show that ' feminine ' and ' neuter ' are not a 
unit — are not more closely related in idea than 'mascu- 
line' and 'feminine.' But the great separation is after 
'genders,' and must be distinguished by a greater pause: 
'There are three genders; the masculine, the feminine, 
and the neuter.' 

12. 'A tree consists of four parts first leaves second 
branches third trunk fourth roots.' Here the least degree 
of separation is after the ordinals, which have been intro- 
duced to make the enumeration more deliberate or formal; 
and hence these are cut off by commas, to show that they 
are not modifiers. The next higher degree is between the 
particulars enumerated. Hence these require semi-colons. 
The highest is after ' parts ' and must therefore be dis- 
tinguished by a colon: 'A tree consists of four parts: 
first, leaves; second, branches; third, trunk; and fourth 
roots.' 



170 ESSENTIALS OF E:N"GLISH. 

13. 'Said Keats, "I feel the daisies growing over 
me." ' The grammatical connection between the object 
and the verb is closer when the sentence assumes the form: 

* Keats said that he felt the daisies growing over him.' A 
formal reference to the quotation increases the separation. 

* These are the words of the dying Keats: "I feel the 
daisies growing over me."' In the first form, the quota- 
tion is direct and objective; in the second, it is indirect, 
and nominative by apposition. Make the appositive inter- 
mediate between subject and verb, the punctuation will 
vary accordingly: 'These words, "I feel the daisies grow- 
ing over me," were spoken by the dying Keats.' 

14. 'Conversation makes a ready man; writing, an 
exact man; reading, a full man.' If the comma is inserted 
to denote the omission of the verb, the semi-colon must 
mark the great divisions, which fall between the members. 
The sentence will not be misunderstood, however, if punc- 
tuated thus: 'Conversation makes a ready man, writing 
an exact man, reading a full man.' 

15. 'He had all the boldness of the lion; and he had 
also the wisdom of the serpent: but he lacked the inno- 
cence of the dove.' First and second members separated 
by a semi-colon. Colon after ' serpent ' to indicate that 
the following member is balanced against the two preced- 
ing. The same effect may be produced by substituting 
comma for semicolon, and semicolon for colon: 'He had 
all the boldness of the lion, and he had also the wisdom of 
the serpent; but he lacked the innocence of the dove.' 

From these typical examples the following important 
principles are sufficiently clear: 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 171 

1. That punctuation is influenced by the sense. 

2. That punctuation is influenced by position. 

3. That punctuation is influenced by the points re- 
quired elsewhere. 

4. That the primary purpose of punctuation is to indi- 
cate to the eye the construction of the sentence in which 
it occurs. 

5. That punctuation is thus only a means of facilitating 
that analysis and synthesis which the mind must make, 
consciously or unconsciously, before the most ordinary 
passage can be comprehended. 

6. That the guides to correct punctuation are judg- 
ment and taste. The first determines the organic relations 
which marks indicate; the second determijies the choice, 
where good usage admits a choice, between two modes of 
indicating those relations. 

With these fundamental results, we come next to 
speak, somewhat in detail, of the applications based upon 
them. 

PERIOD. 

1. A period is put at the end of every declarative or 
imperative sentence; sometimes, modestly, after a sen- 
tence in the exclamatory or interrogative form: 

How vain are all the hopes of theory, when unsupported by 
habitual practice. — Eclectic. 

What would become of the finances, what of the marine, if the 

Whigs were to manage the revenue, and Whigs who had 

never walked over a dock-yard were to fit out the fleet. — Macaulay. 



172 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

2. A period, as already observed, is put after every 
abbreviation. As it indicates merely an omission, it super- 
sedes no point except itself: 'Prof. W. G. Williams, 
LL.D., of Ohio Wesleyan University.' Compound num- 
bers, on the ground of taste, form an exception. 

3. A period is placed after Roman capital and small 
letters used as numerals. This practice, however, is losing 
favor. Tt is considered more tasteful, and equally clear, 
to omit the period: 'Edward IV was a vigorous ruler.' 

4. A period is put after headings, sub-headings, or 
similar expressions, significant alone. 

INTERROGATION. 

1. An interrogation point is put after complete ques- 
tions, whether asked by the writer or quoted directly: 

'What can I do for you?' '"What do you say?" cried the 
officer.' ' He asked, " Why do you weep?" ' 

Questions quoted indirectly are not so distinguished: 

' He asked me why I wept.' ' The judge asked the witness if he 
believed the man to be guilty.' 

2. An interrogation point may supersede the comma, 
semicolon, or colon: 

'Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.' 

'For what is a body but an aggregate of individuals? and what 
new right can be conveyed by a mere change of name? ' 

3. An interrogation point is put after elliptical ques- 
tions having a common dependence: 

What is meant by ' constitution ' ? by ' constitutional govern- 
ment ' ? by ' better ' ? by 'a population ' ? and by ' absolutism ' ? — 
J. H. Newman. 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 173 

If, however, the sense is suspended, no interrogation 
point is allowed until a question is completed. Compare, 
*How shall a man obtain the kingdom of God? by impiety? 
by murder? by falsehood? by theft?' with, 'Shall a man, 
by impiety, by murder, by falsehood, by theft, obtain the 
kingdom of God ? ' 

4. An interrogation point is sometimes inserted with 
curves to express doubt without formal denial: 

If the immortal Bacon — the wisest, greatest, meanest (?) of 
mankind — disgraced tlie judgment seat, etc. — Edinburgh Review. 

EXCLAMATION. 

1. An exclamation point is put after sentences and 
parts, if sufficiently emotional, very much as the question- 
mark is used after expressions denoting inquiry: 

Those evening bells ! those evening bells ! 

How many a tale their music tells 
Of youth and home, and that sweet time 

When last I heard their soothing chime. — Moore. 

And like a silver clarion rung 

The accents of that mountain tongue. 

Excelsior ! — Longfellow. 
How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, 
How complicate, how wonderful is man ! — Young. 
Yeho ! Yeho ! through lanes, groves and villages. — Dickens. 

Oh! that I coiikl return once more to peace and innocence! that 
I hung an infant on the breast! that I were born a beggar! .... I 
would toil till the sweat of blood dropped from my brow, to pur- 
chase the luxury of one sound sleep, the rapture of a single tear. — 
Schiller. 

Here I stand for impeachment or trial! I dare accusation ! I 
defy the honorable gentleman ! I defy the government, I defy their 
whole phalanx ! — Grattaii,. 



174 ESSEi^TIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

2. This point is generally put after interjections: 

Oh! you went with him, did you? — Goodrich. 
Ah! there's a deathless name. — Willis. 

But observe: 

Snug and safe is that nest of ours 
Hidden among the summer flowers. 

Chee, chee, chee! — Bryant. 

0, better that her shattered hulk 
Should sink beneatli the wave ! — Holmes. 

Ere I was old? xVh, woeful 'ere'! — Coleridge. 

But oh, that deep romantic chasm which slanted 
Down the green hill, athwart a cedarn cover! — Ihid. 

3. Two or more points are sometimes used to attract 
attention, or to emphasize thought: 

' Selling off below cost ! I ' 

Reduce Providence to an alternative ! ! ! — Sidney Smith. 

4. The point is further used with curves, to denote 
irony or contempt: 

'The measures which he introduced to Congress, and which 
ought to have been carried by overwhelming majorities (?), prove 
him to have been in every sense a great statesman (!).' 

COLON. 

1. The colon is put at the end of a sentence gram- 
matically finished, yet followed by something without 
which the full force of the remark is lost: 

Our good and evil proceed from ourselves: death appeared ter- 
rible to Cicero, indifferent to Socrates, desirable to Cato. — British 



2. A colon is put between the great divisions of a 
compound sentence when minor divisions are marked by 
the semicolon: 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 175 

' There seems to have been an Indian patli ; for tliis was the ordi- 
nary route of the Mohawk and Oneida war-parties : but the path was 
narrow, broken, full of gullies and pitfalls, crossed by streams, and, 
in one place, interrupted by a lake which they passed on rafts.' 

3. A colon is put before an enumeration, when the 
particulars themselves are separated by semicolons: 

In the language of commerce, 'money' has two meanings: 
'currency,' or the circulating medium; and, 'capital seeking invest- 
ment,' especially investment on loan. — Mill. 

4. A colon is put at the end of whatever formally 
promises or introduces something: 

Tilts is the state of man : to-day lie puts forth 

The tender leaves of hope ; to-morrow blossoms, 

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him ; 

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost. — Shakespeare. 

Dr. Johnson's famous parallel between Dryden and Pope con- 
cludes as follows : ' If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, 
Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze 
is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dry- 
den often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. 
Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual 
delight.' 

We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 
equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- 
able rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness. — Declaration of Independence. 

5. The colon is put after words or phrases that are 
promissory: 

For example : When the verb is a passive, the agent and object 
change places. Better: When the verb is passive, the agent and 
the object change places. 



176 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



SEMICOLON. 



1 . A semicolon is put between the larger divisions of 
a sentence, if the smaller portions require to be separated 
by a comma: 

That the world is overrun with vice, can not be denied; but vice, 
however predominant, has not yet gained unlimited dominion. — 
Johnson. 

Without dividing, he destroyed party; without corrupting, he 
made a venal age unanimous. — Orattan. 

A great author .... writes passionately, because he feels keenly ; 
forcibly, because he conceives vividly. — J. H. Newman. 

2. A semicolon is often put between coordinate mem- 
bers when a comma would not seem to give due weight to 
the thought: 

' A clownish air is but a small defect ; yet it is enough to make 
a man disagreeable.' 

' We have carved a cross upon our altars ; but the smoke of our 
sacrifice goes up to Thor and Odin still.' 

' The wind and rain are over ; calm is the noon of day ; the 
clouds are divided in heaven ; over the green hill flies the inconstant 
sun.' 

3. A semicolon is put between serial clauses or phrases 
having a common dependence: 

As a traveller. Smith had roamed over France ; had visited the 
shores of Egypt; had returned to Italy; and, panting for glory, 
had sought the borders of Hungary, where had long existed a he- 
reditary warfare with the followers of Mahomet ! — Bancroft. 

'To give an early preference to honor above gain, when they 
stand in competition ; to despise every advantage which cannot be 
attained without dishonest arts; to brook no meanness, and stoop 
to no dissimulation, — are the indications of a great mind.' 



THE SENTEI^-CE — PU]S^CTUATION. 177 

4. A semicolon is put before an informal enumeration, 
if the particulars themselves require onl}^ a comma. 

' To Greece we are indebted for the three principal orders of 
architecture; namely, the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian.' 

But neater: 

*The essence of all poetry may be said to consist in three 
things, — invention, expression, and inspiration.' 

5. A semicolon is put before ' as ' preceding an illus- 
trative example: 

' Can ' signifies ability; as, 'I can read.' 

* Pre ' is derived from the Latin prce; as in ' prefix,' 'prejudice,' 
'predetermine.' 

But note: 

Many words, as 'inquire, enquire,' 'sceptic, skeptic,' are differ- 
ently spelled in English. 

Many words are differently spelled in English : ' inquire, en- 
quire ' ; ' jail, gaol ' ; ' sceptic, skeptic. ' 

Some words are irregularly compa red, as ' good, ' ' better, ' ' best. ' 

COMMA. 

1. No comma is put between restrictive elements and 
that whioh they restrict: 

' He ivho is his own lawyer, is said to have a fool for a client.' 

' Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness pro- 
ceeds.' 

' Death is the season which brings our affections to the test.' 

' There arc moral principles slumheriny in the souls of the most 
depraved.' 

* There is no such partition in the spiritual world as you see in 
the material.' 



178 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

* Mark the majestic simplicity of those laivs whereby the opera- 
tions of the universe are conducted.' 

'Swift asserts that no man ever wished liimself younger.' 

' We all Tcnoiv how a man of mighty genius can impart himself 
to other minds.' 

But with these compare: 

'Seneca says, ''There is a settled friendship between God and 
good men."' 

'There are many dreams, fictions, or theories, which men substi- 
tute for truth.' 

Here the object, though restrictive, is set off in the ser- 
vice of the eye. The relative clause, though restrictive, 
is preceded by a comma, to show its equal relation to each 
of the three antecedents. 

2. Independent elements are separated from the con- 
text by commas: 

Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body.' 
'No, sir, I thank you.' 

* If I cannot perform my promise, ivhy, I will regret having 
made it.' 

•' To confess the truth, I was greatly to blame for my indiscretion.' 

' His father being dead, the prince succeeded to the throne.' 

' I think, regard him as you may, that he is a dangerous man.' 

But mark: 

' The pages of history — how is it that they are so dark and sad?' 

'I wished — oh! why should I not have wished? — that all my 
fellow men possessed the blessings of a benign civilization.' 

' Consider {and may the consideration sink deep into your hearts!) 
the fatal consequences of a wicked life.' 

3. Parenthetical or intermediate elements are separat- 
ed from the context by commas: 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATIOIN^. 179 

'Ores are natural compounds, heing produced hij nature.' 
' I dislike all misery, voluntary or involuntary.'' 

'Behold the emblem of thy state in flowers, which bloom and 
die. ' 

' Man, ivho is born of woman, is of few days.' 

'The eye, that sees all things, sees not itself.' 

' But, if education cannot do everythiiig, it can do much.' 

* A spiritual nature, to grow in poiver, demands spiritual liberty.' 

'A single hour in the day, steadily given to the study of an 
interesting subject, brings unexpected accumulations of knowledge.' 

' Benevolence is, on whatever side ive may contemplate the sub- 
ject, a godlike virtue.' 

All the phrases and clauses are truly limitary, but not 
restrictively so. Hence the omission of the comma would 
quite pervert the meaning. Some, it will be seen, are 
thrust in, more or less violently, between parts closely 
related. 

4. Appositional elements are separated from the con- 
text by commas: 

'The twin sisters, Piety and Poetry, are wont to dwell together.' 

'The author of "Paradise Lost," Milton, was a noble-minded 
man.' 

'Prof. J. W.White, Ph.D., Cambridge.' 

'A professed Catholic, he imprisoned the Pope; a pretended, 
patriot, he impoverished the country.' 

But: 

' The terms reason and instinct have been variously defined.' 
'The emperor Augustus was a patron of the fine arts.' 

' I recommend the reading of good books as a source of improve- 
ment and delight.'' 

'This point presents a second tiiought — aii emendation.' 



180 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

' The true test of a great man — that at least, which must secure 
his place among the highest order of great me7i — is his having been 
in advance of his age.' 

The commas are omitted here because the appositives are 
restrictive. The dash is preferred, to give prominence or 
emphasis. This rule, it may be added, is little more than 
a case of the preceding. 

5. Contrasted elements are separated by commas: 

'False delicacy is affectation, not politeness.' 

' Prudence, as well as courage, is necessary to overcome obstacles.' 

' We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; in feel- 
ings, not in figures on a dial.' 

Note, however: 

' Milton burned with a deep yet calm love of moral grandeur.' 

' Nothing is more wise or more admirable in action than to be 
resolute and yet calm, earnest and yet self-possessed, decided and 
yet modest.' 

The last is really no exception, since the elements are 
merely compound. 

6. Elliptical elements are distinguished by commas: 

' The tendency of poetry is to refine, purify, expand, and elevate.' 

' Let holiness, goodness, virtue, be to you the pearl of great 
price.' 

'Charity beareth, believeth, hopeth, all things.' 

'Happy is the man who honors, obeys, loves, or serves his 
Creator.' 

' God is the source, object, model, of perfect love. 

' The good man is alive to all the sympathies, the sanctities, and 
the loves of social existence.' 

* A wise man seeks to shine in himself; a fool, to outshine others.' 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. • 181 

In the first example, a comma is put after ' expand,' to 
indicate that its connection with ' elevate ' is not closer, 
171 thought^ than with * purify' or ^refine.' Where the 
connective is omitted throughout, a comma is put after the 
last term of the series, to indicate common reference or 
dependence, as ' of perfect love.' A final connective, how- 
ever, supersedes the final comma, as in the next example. 
To the second remark, adjectives and adverbs form, un- 
philosophically, an exception: 

'He was a brave, pious, patriotic prince.' 

'The discourse was beautifully, elegantly, forcibly deli vei^ed.' 

The punctuation of the last example, under the rule, is 
logical; but, where the members are short, taste is allowed 
to ignore the ellipsis of the verb, and to substitute a 
comma for the semicolon: 

' The weather was fine, the sleigh new, and the road good.' 

7. Inverted elements are separated from the context 
by commas: 

' To the wise and good, old age presents a scene of tranquil 
enjoyment.' 

' Of all our senses, sight is the most perfect.' 

^Having nothing else to do, I went.' 

' Wlien spring returns, the flowers will bloom.' 

* Calm, attentive, and cheerful, he confutes more gracefully than 
others compliment.' 

' If you would he revenged on your enemies, let your life be 
blameless.' 

'Pope, Alexander; British poet.' ' Steve7iso7i, R. W., Ph.D.' 

If, however, the extreme terms are closely connected; if the 
order of the entire sentence is inverted; or if a short in- 
verted phrase can be read smoothly, without obscurity, — 
the comma is omitted: 



182 ESSEN"TIALS OF EN'GLISH. 

'Her crystal lamp the evening star has lighted.' 

• To egotists and pedants 1 have a strong antipathy.' 

' In infancy the mind is peculiarly ductile. ' 

' In tlie solem7i silence of the mind are formed those great resolu- 
tions which decide the fate of men.' 

8. Members of a compound sentence, when too closely 
connected for the semicolon, are separated by commas: 

There mountains rise, and circling oceans flow. — Pope. 
Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise 
men use them. — Baco7i. 

9. Direct quotations, if short and informal, or if 
introduced into the middle of a sentence, are separated 
from the context by commas: 

' It hurts a man's pride to say, '\I do not 'know.'''' ' 

' ''Knowledge is power,'' says the father of modern philosophy.' 

' There is much truth in the proverb, " Without paifis no gains." ' 

*In the proverb, ''Without pains no gains," there is much 
truth.' 

10. The logical subject, if quite long, if ending in a 
verb, or if composed of a series of unconnected terms, is 
separated from the predicate by a comma: 

' Whatever is, is right.' 

'He who falls in love with himself, will have no rivals.' 

'To maintain a steady course amid all the adversities of life, 
marks a great mind.' 

' How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, 
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home ! ' 

'Intelligence, beauty, modesty, are the charms of woman.' 
The evident effect of this rule is to promote clearness — 
to enable the eye to detect at once the division between 
subject and predicate. With the last example, compare; 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATrON. 183 

*Joy, grief, love, admiration, and devotion are alJ naturally 
musical.' 

11. The comma is generally used where the sense 
requires a short pause, but not sufficiently great for the 
semicolon: 

It was supposed to be an island, and received the name of Florida 
from the day on which it was discovered, and from the aspect of the 
forests, which were then brilliant with a profusion of blossoms, and 
gay with the fresh verdure of early spring. — Bancroft. 

1 2. In general, a comma should be used wherever it 
serves to prevent ambiguity: 

'He who teaches, often learns himself.' 

' That is, there is a true way of expressing truth.' 

' To each, honor is given.' 

'Whoever lives wickedly, must perish.' 

' The consequence is, that most animals have acquired a fear of 
man.' 

' The gleam of the ocean, and vast prairies of verdure, were 
before us.' 

How would the omission or transposition of the comma 
affect the meaning ? 

DASH. 

1. A. dash is used to indicate a break in the construc- 
tion of a sentence: 

Richter says, in the island of Sumatra there is a kind of ' Light- 
chafers,' large Fireflies, which people stick upon spits, and illuminate 
the ways at night. Persons of condition can thus travel with a 
pleasant radiance which they much admire. Great honor to the 
Fireflies ! But — ! — Carlyle. 



184 esse:n"tials of ekglish. 

2. It is used to indicate a witty transition: 

' At church, in silks and satins new, 

With hoop of monstrous size, 
She never slumbered in her pew — 
But when she shut her eyes.' 

3. It is used to indicate hesitation: 

I take — eh ! oh ! as much exercise — eh ! ~ as I can, Madam 
Gout. — Franklin, 

4. It is used, with the comma, after a loose series of 
nominatives broken off and resumed in a new form: 

' To pull down the false and to build up the true, and to iiphold 
what there is of true in the old, — let this be our endeavor.' 

5. It is used, with or without other points, before a 
rhetorical repetition: 

* Never is virtue left without sympathy, — sympathy dearer and 
tenderer for the misfortune that has tried it, and proved its fidelity.' 

6. It is often used, in preference to commas and 
curves, to enclose a parenthesis: 

* In youth — that is to say, someivhere between the period of child- 
hood a7id manhood — there is commonly a striking development of 
sensibility and imagination.' 

'The magnificent creations of Southey's poetry — piled up like 
clouds at sunset, in the calm serenity of his capacious i^itellect — 
have always been duly appreciated by poetical students and critical 
readers; but by the public at large they are neglected.' 

7. It is put between a side-head and the subject-mat- 
ter; or between the subject-matter and the authority for 
it, when both are in the same paragraph. 

Of this rule, the present chapter affords numerous illus- 
trations. 

A knowledge of all the rules, however, will be of less 
value than a right conception of the mark itself. Pri- 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 185 

marily, it is a sort of graphic or emotional stroke. The 
Germans call it the t/wu(/ht-stroke; tliat is, the mark 
that aims to set the reader to thinking. The following 
is a most excellent example of its correct use: 
He suffered — but his pangs are o'er; 

Enjoyed — but his delights are fled ; 
Had friends — his friends are now no more; 
And foes — his foes are dead. — Montgomery. 

CURVES. 

1. Independent elements that violently break the 
unity of the context are enclosed by curves: 

' The profound learning and philosophical researches of Sir Will- 
iam Jones {he teas master of twenty-eight languages) were the wonder 
and admiration of contemporaries.' 

2. Dtependent elements are enclosed by curves, if de- 
sired to be read in a perceptible undertone: 

Know, then, this truth {enough for man to know): 
Virtue alone is happiness below. — Pope. 

' It behooves me to say that these three {who, hy the way, are all 
dead) possessed great general ability.' 

' I agree with the honorable gentleman {Mr. Allen) that it is 
pleasing to every generous mind to obey the dictates of sympathy.' 

' I devoted a third part of all my wealth {four cents) to this 
cause.' 

In all these examples, the dash would be too emphatic — 
too striking; the comma, not sufficiently so. The latter 
point would leave it doubtful whether ' Mr. Allen ' were 
an appositive or a vocative. 

3. Matter within the curves is punctuated as in any 
other position: 

'Perhaps (for who can guess the effects of chance?) 
Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance.' 



186 ESSENTIALS OF e:n^gltsh. 

'Not a few are the incitements of the working classes (would 
they were greater!) to the accumulation of property.' 

' If we exercise right principles (and we cannot have them unless 
we exercise them), they must be perpetually on the increase.' 

Within the sentence, the curve supersedes both comma 
and period. Whatever point would be needed if the 
parenthesis were left out, must be retained, and will be 
inserted after the second curve. Other uses of the curves, 
as well as of the dash, have been considered elsewhere. 

BRACKETS. 

1. The brackets are used to enclose what one person 
puts into the writing of another: 

• Chelsea, June 30 [1880].' (Omission.) 

' A variety of pleasing objects meet ]^meets] the eye.' (Correction.) 

'Yours [the British] is a nation of unbounded resources.' 

(Explanation.) 

2. They are also employed by lexicographers to enclose 
references, derivations, pronunciations: 

'Elude [Latin elndo] v. t., to escape.' 

Formerly they were used in dramatic compositions, to en- 
close directions or observations not considered a part of 
the text. In this use, however, they have been almost 
superseded by the curves. 

QUOTATION MARKS. 

1. Marks of quotation are used to enclose the identi- 
cal language of another:^ 

1 In books and printed work it is becoming customary to omit the quotation 
marks when an extract is given in a separate paragraph together with the 
author's name. 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 187 

'Leaves have their tune to fall, 
And flowers to wither at the north Avind's breath, 

And stars to set ; but all 

Thou hast all seasons for thine own, Death.' 

2. A quotation included within another is distin- 
guished by double points: 

'Swift to the breach his comrades fly, — 
" Make way for liberty! '" they cry. 
And through the Austrian phalanx dart 
As rushed the spear through Arnold's heart. 

3. When an extract consists of two or more para- 
graphs, the introductory marks are placed before each 
paragraph, and the closing ones after the last only: 

Some of Jefferson's rules of life are ; 

'Never spend your money before you have it. 

' Never trouble others for what you can do yourself, 

' Xever put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.' 

4. The quotation retains its own punctuation: 

He asked me, ' Why do you weep ? ' 

Why did you not say at once, ' I cannot go ' ? 

The interrogation point belongs, in the latter, to the 
entire sentence; in the former, only to the objective 
clause. 

On the ground of philosophy and taste, we have fol- 
lowed the English lead in preferring single to double 
points for primary quotation. The second, especially if 
frequent, give to the page a ragged and uncouth appear- 
ance; the first, as they are simpler, are less offensive; 
and, as they attract less attention, answer better the pur- 
poses of thought. 

It should be remembered, also, that quotation marks 
are but one of several devices for distinguishing words 



188 ESSENTIALS OF E]*GLISH. 

that are quoted. Hence, single terms, titles of books, 
names of periodicals, may be expressed in italics or cap- 
itals. 

UNDERSCORE. 

1 . This mark denotes, in general, emphasis or distinc- 
tion. The corresponding printed characters are known 
as italics^' so called because the Italians not only invented 
them, but immediately gave to the world an edition of 
Virgil printed w^holly in them: 

Sweep away utterly all frothiness and falsehood from your 
heart; struggle unweariedly to acquire what is possible for every 
God-created man, a free, open, humble soul: speak not at all, in 
any wise, till you have somewhat to speak; care not for the reivard 
of your speaking, but simply, and with undivided mind, for the 
truth of your speaking! — Carlyle. 

2. Foreign terms are underscored. 

'His heroes are always marked by an air distingue; his vile men 
are sure to be biases; .... he does not simply enjoy his rest, he 
luxuriates in the dolce far niente, and wonders when he will man- 
age to begin his magnum opus.'' ^ 

3. Names of ships, newspapers and magazines are 
usually underscored. Names of books are often quoted. 

4. One underscore denotes what is emphatic, — ital- 
ics; TWO, what is more emphatic, — small capitals; 
THREE, what is very emphatic,— CAPITALS. 

The following enlargements and variations of essen- 
tially the same thought will afford, it is believed, a clear 
and compendious view of the principal uses of the sev- 
eral marks under consideration: 

Declarative in form, but inter- 



Themistocles was valiant? , ^- • 

rogative m meannig. 

Dean Alford: The Queen's English. 



THE SEXTEN'CE — PUN"CTUATI0:N". 



189 



Who does not know that j Parts closely connected; com- 
Themistocles was reverent and >- pound predicate in subordinate 



cautious and valiant? 

Who does not know that The- 
raistocles M'as reverent? that he 
was cautious ? that he was also 
valiant? 

Who does not know that The- 
mistoeles was reverent, that he 
was cautious, that he was also 
valiant ? 

Was not reverence, was not 
caution, was not courage, a 
quality of Themistocles? 



Was not reverence a quality 
of Themistocles? and caution? 
and courage? 



How valiant was Themisto- 
cles! 



How reverent, how cautious, 
how valiant, was Themistocles! 



clause. 



How reverent, how cautious, 
and how valiant was Themis- 
tocles! 



Interrogation points to denote 
successive questions; small let- 
I ters to denote close connection 
J and incompleteness of parts. 

Same result reached by substi- 
tution of commas. 

Xo interrogation point admit- 
ted till close; because, till then, 
no question has been asked. 

A question completed at ' The- 
mistocles ' ; question repeated ; 
small letters because the sentence 
virtually consists of three inter- 
rogative members, hence of in- 
complete parts. 

Exclamatory sentence requires 
exclamation point. 

Compound exclamatory predi- 
cate; commas after 'reverent' 
and ' cautious ' to denote the 
omission of ' and ' ; after ' valiant ' 
to denote the similar relation of 
the three parts. 

Comma omitted after 'valiant,' 
because the common relation is 
sufiR.ciently indicated by ' and ' ; 
comma retained after ' cautious ' 
to denote that the connection of 
the word with 'reverent' and 
' valiant ' is coordinate. 



190 



ESSENTIALS OF Ei;rGLISH. 



How reverent was Themis- 
tocles I how cautious ! how val- 
iant! 



Exclamation completed at 
' Themistocles ' ; exclamation 
points to denote successive excla- 
mations; small letters to denote 
incompleteness and close connec- 
tion. 



Themistocles was valiant. | Only the period required. 



Themistocles was cautious, 
and he was also valiant. 



) Good usage admits either com- 



) ma or semicolon. 



Themistocles was cautious, 
and he was also valiant; but the 
wisdom of the serpent and the 
courage of the lion could not 
prevail against destiny. J 

Themistocles, the distinguish- 
ed Athenian general, was cau- 
tious ; and he was also valiant : 
but the wisdom of the serpent 
and the courage of the lion 
could not prevail against des- 
tiny. 

The distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles were reverence 
and caution and courage. 

The distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles were reverence, 
caution, and courage. 

The distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles were three ; rever- 
ence, caution, and courage. 



A comma being inserted after 
'cautious,' a semicolon must be 
inserted after ' valiant ' to denote 
the greater degree of separation. 



Colon after ' valiant,' as requir- 
ed by the principal separation in 
the sentence; also to show the 
common relation of the third 
member to each of the other two. 

Closeness of connection and 
nature of the sentence admit no 
other point than a period at the 
end. 

Comma after ' reverence ' to de- 
note the omission of ' and ' ; after 
' caution ' to denote the similar 
relation of parts. 

Semicolon after 'three,' as re- 
quired by the informal enumer- 
ation. 



THE SENTE]S"CE — P[JNCTUATION. 



191 



The distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles were : first, rever- 
ence; second, caution; third, 
courage. 



The valiant and distinguished 
Themistocles, after the arrival 
of the Grecian fleet, earnestly 
exhorted the Athenians to flee 
to their ships. 



Commas inserted to denote that 
' first, ' ' second, ' and ' third ' are 
not modifiers, but introductoiy 
words; semicolons inserted to de- 
note the greater degrees of separ- 
ation; colon after 'were,' as re- 
quired by the formal statement of 
particulars. 

Intermediate phrase, breaking 

>■ the connection between subject 

and predicate, set off by commas. 



After the arrival of the Gre- ' 
cian fleet, Themistocles, who was 
a valiant and distinguished gen- 
eral, exhorted, with the earnest- 
ness of despair, the Athenians 
to flee to their ships. 



After the arrival of the Gre- 
cian fleet, Themistocles, a gene- 
ral who was valiant and distin- 
guished, and much beloved by 
the people, perceiving that there 
was no longer any hope, exhort- 
ed, with the energy of despair, 
the Athenians to flee to their 
ships for their lives, lives which, 
as every one knows, were so dear 
to him. 



Relative clause, being explana- 
tory merely, is parenthetical in 
nature, and requires a comma 
before it, as well as after it. 

Comma after ' Themistocles ' 
and after 'people,' as enclosing 
an appositional expression; no 
comma after 'general,' because 
relative clause is restrictive ; com- 
ma after ' distinguished ' to de- 
note that ' by the people ' relates 
to ' much beloved ' only ; comma 
after ' hope, ' as required by par- 
enthetical expression ' perceiving,' 
etc.; comma after 'lives,' before 
the word repeated in the form of 
an appositive; comma inserted 
after 'which,' and one after 
'knows,' as enclosing matter in- 
termediate and in the nature of a 
coalescing parenthesis. 



192 



ESSENTIALS OF Ei^-GLISH. 



After the arrival of the Gre- 
cian fleet, Themistocles, the val- 
iant and distinguished general, 
exhorted, with the earnestness 
of despair, the Athenians to flee 
to their ships. 



The qualities for which The- 
mistocles was distinguished, 
were reverence, caution, and 
courage. 

The distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles were the most as- 
suring, as well as the highest, 
endowments of the soul. 

Reverence and piety, courage 
and caution, were the distin- 
guishing traits of Themistocles. 



Reverence and piety, and 
courage and caution were the 
distinguishing traits of The- 
mistocles. 



Themistocles was so reverent 
and pious, courageous and cau- 
tious, that he was held in the 
veneration of an oracle. 



Intermediate phrase transposed, 
hence comma after ' fleet ' ; the 
appositive, also an intermediate 
phrase, set off by commas ; ' earn- 
estly' expanded into an inter- 
mediate phrase, breaking the con- 
nection between the verb and its 
object. 

Comma after 'distinguished,' 
because logical subject ends in a 
verb, or, to enable the eye to de- 
termine at once what the logical 
subject is. 

Commas to denote common re- 
lation of antecedent parts to con- 
> sequent, ' endowments.' 'As well 
as the highest,' is also intermedi- 
ate in nature. 

Words arranged in pairs. 
Comma after ' caution ' to denote 
that the pairs equally relate to 
predicate. 

Comma omitted after ' caution,' 
because the common relation of 
pairs to predicate is indicated by 
the insertion of ' and ' ; comma re- 
tained after ' piety ' to indicate 
that the writer associated the 
> ideas in pairs. 

Subdivisions of antecedent 
clause separated by comma ; hence 
comma after 'cautious' between 
- the clauses themselves, to indi- 
cate common connection of re- 
sulting clause with preceding 
parts. 



THE SEifTEI^'CE — PUNCTUATION". 



193 



As stars in the firmament, so 
were reverence and piety, cour- 
age and caution, in the charac- 
ter of Themistocles. 

Themistocles was so reverent 
and pious that he was held in 
the veneration of an oracle. 

The distinguishing" traits of 
Themistocles were four, — rev- 
erence, piety, courage, and cau- 
tion. 

Reverence, piety, courage, 
and caution, — these are the 
qualities that distinguished 
Themistocles, — qualities which 
are the assurance of all attaina- 
ble goods. 

Reverence and caution (did 
he not also possess courage?) 
were distinguishing traits of 
Themistocles's character. 

Reverence, caution (did he 
not possess courage also?), were 
distinguishing traits of Themis- 
tocles's character. 

' I beseech you to betake your- 
selves to your ships,' said The- 
mistocles. 

Themistocles said, * I beseech 
you to betake yourselves to 
your ships.' 
13 



Comma after 'firmament* to 
separate correlative clauses, after 
' caution ' to denote common con- 
nection of pairs with subsequent 
phrase. 

Closeness of connection, com- 
pleteness of parts, make comma 
unnecessary. 

Dash with comma inserted after 
'four' to denote omission of 
namely, and as equivalent to the 
semicolon. Words not considered 
to be in pairs. 

Dash, for distinctness, added 
before the immediate subject; 
dash after ' Themistocles ' to give 
rhetorical emphasis. 

Curves about the parenthetical 
sentence, violently breaking the 
connection of parts ; interrogation 
point before the second curve to 
denote question; apostrophe to 
denote possession. 

Comma after the second curve, 
because required between 'cau- 
tion ' and ' were,' if the incidental 
parts were omitted. 



Direct quotation, short and ab- 
ruptly introduced. 



194 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 



Themistocles possessed rever- 
ence, caution, courage, and — 
what noble quality did he not 
possess? 



Dash after 'and' to denote 
break in construction and rhetor- 
ical turn of thought. 



Themistocles said : ' I beseech 
you, Athenians, to betake 
yourselves to your ships; for 
perceive that there is no longer 
any hope.' 



J I Length and construction of 
parts give preference to the colon. 



* I beseech you, Athenians,' 
said Themistocles, ' to betake 
yourselves to your ships ; for I 
perceive that there is no longer 
any hope.' 

The words of Themistocles, -^ 
* I beseech you to betake your- | 
selves to your ships,' were in- 
spired by a communication from 
the Delphic oracle. 

These were the words of The- 
mistocles: 'I beseech you, 
Athenians, to betake yourselves 
to your ships.' 

These words of Themistocles, 
*I beseech you, Athenians, 
to betake yourselves to your 
ships,' were inspired by a com- 
munication from the Delphic 
oracle. 

'Will you not listen to my i 
entreaties, Athenians?' in- 'r 
quired Themistocles. ; 



Principal proposition becoming 
intermediate with respect to 
quoted passage, and hence re- 
^ quiring the comma before and 
after it; quotation points before 
and after each part of the divided 



Quotation incorporated into 
the sentence, and hence only the 
comma admissible. 



Quotation formally introduced 
by 'these,' and hence preceded 
by colon. 



Commas substituted for colon ; 
since, though formally intro- 
duced, the passage is incorporated 
into the middle of the sentence. 



Direct question, with quota- 
tion and interrogation points. 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 195 

Themistoeles inquired wheth- j Indirect question — substance 
er the Athenians would not >■ of the direct, hence punctuated 



listen to his entreaties. ; as an affirmative sentence. 

Note I. — Aldus Manutius and his grandson, two printers of 
Venice, are said to have devised italics and the four principal 
points, about the beginning of the fifteenth century. The interro- 
gation and exclamation points are ascribed to the Spanish ; the dash, 
to the French. 

Note II. — The period means literally 'a circuit of words'; the 
colon, * a member ' ; the semicolon, ' a half member ' ; and the 
comma, ' a part cut ofE.' 

Note III. — It has been made plain that punctuation is much 
more than 'a matter of taste.' While there is an allowable diver- 
sity in their application, its essential principles are fixed and deter- 
minate. He who affirms it to be an arbitrary art, avows himself 
ignorant of the fundamental laws of thought and language. 

Note IV. — A just punctuation is indeed a valuable aid to the 
reader; yet its chief aim is, not to assist the utterance, but to un- 
fold the meaning. It promotes ease of delivery only so far as it 
exhibits sentential structure to the best advantage. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Distinguish between * glass-house ' and 'glasshouse'; 'New- 
York Directory ' and * new York Directory ' ; lady's finger ' and 
' lady's-finger ' ; ' recreate ' and ' re-create ' ; ' reform ' and ' re- 
form'; 'many-colored birds' and 'many colored birds'; 'a horse 
racing ' and ' a horse-racing ' ; ' four-footed animals ' and * four footed 
animals'; 'deep-tangled wild wood' and 'deep tangled wildwood'; 
' touch me not ' and ' touch-me-not.' 

2. Distinguish : 

* I, Paul, have written it ' ; 
'I Paul have written it.' 

' You did not see him, then?' 
'You did not see him then?' 



,196 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

*0 shame! where is thy blush?' 
'0, Shame! where is thy blush?' 

* Why, did you not come to us in the beginning of the night?' 

* Why did you not come to us in the beginning of the night? ' 

' The eye, that sees all things, sees not itself ' ; 
' The eye that sees all things, sees not itself. ' 

' Behold the emblem of thy state in flowers, which bloom and 
die'; 

'Behold the emblem of thy state in flowers which bloom and 
die/ 

'The earth is filled with the labors, the works, of the dead'; 
' The earth is filled with the labors, the works of the dead.' 

* His mind was profoundly thoughtful, and vigorous ' ; 
'His mind was profoundly thoughtful and vigorous.' 

' 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too ' ; 

* 'Twas certain he could write and cipher too.' 

3. Divide into syllables : 

Never, obvious, occasion, heretic, transacted, termination, nev- 
ertheless, highwayman, accent, similarity, consolidate, master, sig- 
nificant, official, pretty, sufficiently. 

4. Compose sentences embodying correctly the following abbre- 
viations : 

Mo. =Missouri. lb.=libra (pound). 

Mts.= mountains. do.=:ditto (the same). 

Mr. =mister. e.g. =exempli gratia 
Mrs. = mistress. (for sake of example). 

No. =numero etc. — et cetera 

(number). (and others). 

Messrs. = messieurs i.e.=idest 

(gentlemen). (that is). 

Supt.= superintendent. p. = page. 

A.D.=anno Domini. pp.=:pages. 

A.B.=artium baccalaureus vs. = versus (against). 

(bachelor of arts). viz. = videlicet (namely). 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 197 

A.M.=artium magister hhd.= hogshead. 

(master of arts) M.D,=medicinae doctor 
LL.D. =legum doctor (doctor of medicine). 

(doctor of laws), D.D.=divinitatis doctor 
Ph.D.=philosophia3 doctor (doctor of divinity). 

(doctor of philosophy). M.C. =member of Congress. 

B.C. =K before Christ. M.P. = member of Parliament. 
C.O.D.=collect on delivery. 

5. Explain punctuation: 

(1) Our advances in knowledge are perceivable only by the dis- 
tance. 

Our advances in knowledge, as they consist of minute steps, are 
perceivable only by the distance. 

As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did 
not see it moving; so our advances in knowledge, as they consist of 
such minute steps, are perceivable only by the distance. 

As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did 
not see it moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though 
nobody ever saw it grow : so our advances in knowledge, as they con- 
sist of such minute steps, are perceivable only by the distance. 

We perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did 
not see it moving; and it appears, moreover, that the grass has 
grown, though nobody ever saAV it grow. Thus it is with our 
advances in knowledge : they consist of such minute steps that they 
are perceivable only by the distance. 

(2) Then her countenance all over 

Pale again as death did prove; 
But he clasp'd her like a lover, 
And he cheered her soul with love. — Tennyson. 

(3) Turn, gentle hermit of the vale. 

And guide thy lonely way 
To where yon taper cheers the dale 
With hospitable ray. — Goldsmith. 



198 ESSENTIALS OF EJ^GLISH, 

(4) The quality of mercy is not strained .... 
It is an attribute of God himself; 

And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
When mercy seasons justice. — Shakespeare. 

(5) His fall was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand. 

He left a name at which the world grew pale. 
To point a moral and adorn a tale. — Johnson. 

(6) Light illumines everything, the lowly valley as well as the 
lofty mountain ; it fructifies everything, the humblest herb as well 
as the lordliest tree. — Hare. 

(7) Speaking generally of that generation of authors, it may be 
said that, as poets, they had no force or greatness of fancy, no 
pathos, no enthusiasm; and, as philosophers, no comprehensiveness, 
depth, or originality. — Jeffrey. 

(8) Yet you, my Creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to 
whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of 
one of us. — Mrs. Shelley. 

(9) With a callous heart there can be no genius in the imagina- 
tion or wisdom in the mind ; and therefore the prayer, with equal 
truth and sublimity, says, 'Incline your hearts to wisdom.' Reso- 
lute thoughts find words for themselves, make their own vehicle. 
Impression and expression are relative ideas. He who feels deeply 
will express strongly. The language of slight sensations is naturally 
feeble and superficial. — Sir Philip Frances. 

(10) My Lord, — I have been lately informed by the proprietor 
of the World that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recom- 
mended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so dis- 
tinguished, is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors 
from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to 
acknowledge 

Seven years, my lord, have now passed since I waited in your 
outward room, or was repulsed from your door, during which time 
I have been pushing un my work through difficulties of which it is 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 199 

useless to complain ; and have brought it at last to the verge of pub- 
lication, without one word of encouragement or one smile of favor. 

The shepherd in Virgil grew acquainted with Love, and found 
him a native of the rocks. 

Is not a patron, my lord, one who can look with unconcern on 
a man struggling for life in the water, and then encumber him with 
help? .... 

My lord, your lordship's most humble and most obedient 
servant, Samuel Johnson. 

(11) Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him 
As if increase of appetite had grown 

By what it fed on; and yet, within a month — 
Let me not think on it — Frailty, thy name is woman. 

— Shakespeare. 

(12) An infant on its mother's breast — 

A bouncing boy at play — • 

A youth by maiden fair caressed — 
An old man, silver gray — 

Is all of life we know: 

A joy — a fear ; 

A smile — a tear ; — 

And all is o'er below! — Shaw. 

(13) Go, lovely rose! 

Tell her that wastes her time and me, 

That now she knows, 
When I resemble her to thee. 
How sweet and fair she seems to be. — Waller. 

(14) Of cruelty to animals, let the reader take the following 
specimen : running an iron hook into the intestines of a live animal ; 
presenting this animal to another as his food ; and then pulling up 
this second creature, and suspending him by the barb in his stomach. 
— Sidney Smith. 

(15j I have always remarked that women in all countries are 
civil and obliging, tender and humane ; that they are ever inclined 



300 ESSENTIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

to be gay and cheerful, timorous and modest, and that they do not 
hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action. — Ledyard. 

(16) 'Tis the last rose of summer. 

It has been re-observed on every subsequent revolution, — in '32, 
'25. 

Its [not it's] length was twenty feet. 
For consci*ence' sake. 
Where's your conscience now? 
Mark all the t's in your lesson. 

(17) {Date.) 
Cincinnati, Ohio, February 3, 1883. 

{Address.^ ) 
Dr. 0. W. Holmes, 

296 Beacon Street, 
Boston, Mass. 

( Complimentary . ) 
Dear Sir: 

(Body.) 



Very truly yours, 

John B. Peaslee. 

(18) The robins are not good solo singers, but their chorus, as, 
like primitive fire-worshippers, they hail the return of light and 
warmth to the world, is unrivalled. There are a hundred singing 
like one. They are noisy enough then, and sing, as poets should, 

1 There is great diversity of practice here. In the grave or formal style, the 
address inside the letter is identical with the superscription upon the envelope, 
and may be given either at the opening or at the close. If a period is put after 
it as above, it shows simply to whom the missive is sent; if an inferior point, as 
a comma or colon, it enters into grammatical connection with the ' compliment- 
ary.' The latter —itself a vocative —is in apposition to the former. 

In familiar style, the 'address' is omitted; and for the complimentary, a 
comma, or comma with the dash, is often preferred. 



THE SEXTEXCE — PUXCTFATTOX. 201 

with no after-thought. But when they come after cherries to the 
tree near my window, they muffle their voices, and tlieir faint pip, 
pip, pop! sounds far away at the bottom of the garden, where they 
know I shall not suspect them of robbing the great black-walnut of 
its bitter-rinded store. They are feathered Pecksniffs, to be sure, 
but then how brightly their breasts, that look rather shabby in the 
sunlight, shine in a rainy day against the dark green of the fringe- 
tree ! After they have pinched and shaken all the life out of an 
earthworm, as Italian cooks pound all the spirit out of a steak, and 
then gulped him, they stand up in honest self-confidence, expand 
their red waistcoats with the virtuous air of a lobby member, and 
outface you with an eye that calmly challenges inquiry. ' Do /look 
like a bird that knows the flavor of raw vermin? I throw myself 
upon a jury of my peers. Ask any honest robin if he ever ate any- 
thing less ascetic than the frugal berry of the juniper, and he will 
answer that his vow forbids him.' Can such an open bosom cover 
such depravity? Alas, yes! I have no doubt his breast was redder at 
that very moment with the blood of my raspberries. — J. R. Lowell. 

6. Punctuate, and give reasons : 

(1) What would you Desdemona 

(2) No sir I thank you 

(3) He suddenly plunged and sank 

(4) Youth is introductory to manhood to which it is a state of 
preparation 

(5) The brightest part of thy life is nothing but a flower which 
withers almost as soon as it has blown 

(6) Cursed be the verse how well soeer it flow 
Which tends to make one worthy man my foe 

(7) Excellence is in any position almost the infallible result of 
the determination to excel 

(8) Peace of mind being secured we may smile at misfortune 

(9) The prince his father being dead succeeded to the throne 

(10) God from the mount of Sinai whose gray top 
Shall tremble he descending will himself 
Ordain their laws 

(11) Now feudalism is the embodiment of Satanic pride 



202 ESSENTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

(12) Now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I 
am known 

(13) It is then a mark of wisdom to live virtuously and devoutly 

(14) When beggars die there are no comets seen 

(15) Make men intelligent and they become inventive 

(16) There never is true eloquence except when great principles 
and sentiments have entered into the substance of the soul 

(17) A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches 

(18) Such as the tree is such will be the fruit 

(19) Eloquence is to be attained by the full culture the general 
enriching of the heart and mind 

(20) The young are slaves to novelty the old to custom 

(21) Philosophy makes us wiser Christianity makes us better 
men 

(22) There are but few voices in the world but many echoes 

(23) The old oaken bucket the iron bound bucket 
The moss covered bucket which hung in the well 

(24) He is a freeman whom the truth makes free 
And all are slaves beside 

(25) Men must have recreation and literature and art furnish 
that which is most pure innocent and refining 

(26) The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn and 
Egypt Greece Rome Gaul Britain America lie folded already in the 
first man 

(27) All our conduct toward men should be influenced by this 
important precept do unto others as you would that others should 
do unto you 

(28) Bion seeing a person who was tearing the hair of his head 
for sorrow said does this man think that baldness is a remedy for 
grief 

(29) Oh nothing is farther from my thoughts than to deceive 
you 

(30) Oh what a glorious part you may act on the theater of 
humanity 

(31) Oh that all classes of society were both enlightened and 
virtuous 

(32) Religion who can doubt it is the noblest of themes for the 
exercise of intellect 



THE SENTENCE — PUNCTUATION. 203 

(33) Kings and their subjects masters and their slaves find a 
common level in two places at the foot of the cross and in the 
grave 

(34) Lo Newton priest of nature shines afar 
Scans the wide world and numbers evety star 

(35) What the design of these men was has never been ascer- 
tained 

(36) On the fifth day of the moon which according to the cus- 
tom of my forefathers I always keep holy after having washed my- 
self and offered up my morning devotions I ascended the high hills 
of bagdat in order to pass the rest of the day in meditation and 
prayer as I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains I 
fell into a profound contemplation on the vanity of human life and 
passing from one thought to another surely said I man is but a 
shadow and life is a dream whilst I was thus musing I cast my eyes 
towards the summit of a rock that was not far from me where I 
discovered one in the habit of a shepherd with a little musical in- 
strument in his hand as I looked upon him he applied it to his lips 
and began to play upon it the sound of it was exceedingly sweet and 
wrought into a variety of tunes that were inexpressibly melodious 
^nd altogether different from anything I had ever heard they put 
me in mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed 
souls of good men upon their first arrival in paradise to wear out 
the impressions of the last agonieS and qualify them for the pleas- 
ures of that happy place my heart melted away in secret raptures 

I had been often told that the rock before me was the haunt of a 
genius and that several had been entertained with music who had 
passed by it but never heard that the musician had before made 
himself visible when he had raised my thoughts by those transport- 
ing airs which he played to taste the pleasures of his conversation as 
I looked upon him like one astonished he beckoned to me and by 
the waving of his hand directed me to approach the place where he 
sat 

He then led rae to the highest pinnacle of the rock and placing 
me on the top of it cast thine eyes eastward said he and tell me what 
thou seest I see said I a huge valley and a prodigious tide of water 
rolling through it the valley that thou seest said he is the vale of 



304 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

misery and the tide of water that thou seest is part of the great tide 
of eternity what is the reason said I that the tide I see rises out of a 
thick mist at one end and again loses itself in a thick mist at the 
other what thou seest said he is that portion of eternity which is 
called time measured out by the sun and reaching from the begin- 
ning of the world to its consummation examine now said he this 
sea that is bounded with darkness at both ends and tell me what 
thou diseoverest in it I see a bridge said I standing in the midst of 
the tide the bridge thou seest said he is human life consider it atten- 
tively upon a more leisurely survey of it I found it consisted of 
threescore and ten entire arches with several broken arches which 
added to those that were entire made up the number to about a hun- 
dred as I was counting the arches the genius told me that this bridge 
consisted at first of a thousand arches but that a great flood swept 
away the rest and left the bridge in the ruinous condition in which I 
now beheld it but tell me further said he what thou diseoverest on 
it I see multitudes of people passing over it said I and a black cloud 
hanging on each end of it as I looked more attentively I saw several 
of the passengers dropping through the bridge into the great tide 
that flowed beneath it and upon further examination perceived there 
were innumerable trap doors that lay concealed in the bridge which 
the passengers no sooner trod upon but they fell through them into 
the tide and immediately disappeared these hidden pitfalls were set 
very thick at the entrance of the bridge so that throngs of people no 
sooner broke through the cloud but many of them fell into them they 
grew thinner toward the middle but multiplied and lay closer to- 
gether toward the ends of the arches that were entire 

There were indeed some persons but their number was very small 
that continued a kind of hobbling march on the broken arches but 
fell through one after another being quite tired and spent with so 

long a walk my heart was filled with a deep melancholy 

to see several dropping unexpectedly in the midst of mirth and jol- 
lity and catching at every thing that stood by them to save them- 
selves some were looking up toward the heavens in a thoughtful 
posture and in the midst of a speculation stumbled and fell out 
of sight multitudes were very busy in the pursuit of bubbles that 
glittered in their eyes and danced before them but often when they 



THE SEXTEN"CE — PUXCTUATIOX. 205 

thought themselves in the reach of them their footing failed and 

down they sank 

I here fetched a deep sigh alas said I man was made in vain liow 
is he given away to misery and mortality tortured in life and swal- 
lowed up in death. — Addison. 

7. Exliibit by two modes of punctuation, the true and false 
meanings of the following : 

(1) What do you think 

I'll shave you for nothing 
And give you some drink 

(2) Be open evermore 
thou my door 

To none be shut to honest or to poor 

(3) Every lady in this land 

Hath twenty nails upon each hand 
Five and twenty on hands and feet 
And this is true without deceit 

(4) My name is Xorval on the Grampian hills 
My father feeds his flock a frugal swain 
Whose constant care were to increase his store 

We fought and conquered ere a sword was drawn 
An arrow from my bow had pierced their chief 
Who wore that day the arms which now I wear 

(5) !Now by these presents I do you advertise 
That I am minded to marry you in no wise 
For your goods and substance I could be content 
To take you as ye are if ye mind to be my wife 
Ye shall be assured for the time of my life 

I will keep ye right well from good raiment and fare 

Ye shall not be kept but in sorrow and care 

Ye shall in no wise live at your own liberty 

But when ye are merry I will be all sad 

When ye seek your heart's ease I will bs unkind 

At no time in me shall ye much gentleness find 

8. Begin with the simplest form of sentence, and illustrate, by 
various enlargements, ten principles of punctuation. 



OHAPTEE XVI. 

THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 

As a man is known by his company, so a man's company may be known by 
his manner of expressing himself.— Swift. 

Be as careful that neatness, grammar, and sense prevail, when you write 
to a blacksmith about shoeing a horse as when you write on the most impor- 
tant subjects, and when you expect what you write to be read by persons whose 

good opinion you are most anxious to obtain or secure When you write, 

bear constantly in mind that some one is to read and to understand what you 
write.— William Cobbett. 

CONCORD is derived from the Latin co7icordia, and 
signifies agreement. In all inflected languages, the 
forms of the words present outward signs which show 
their mutual relations. Thus the Latin adjective bonus 
(good) qualifies with the ending -us, only a nominative 
of the singular number and masculine gender: honus vir=^ 
a good man; bonus puer:=ai good hoy. Singular feminine 
and neuter nouns are described by the forms bo7ia, bonum: 
bona puella^=ai good girl; bonum. signuni^zz. good token. 
Change of number and case in the substantive compels 
still other changes of termination in the attribute: 

Bonos pueros, ) Accusative, or object. 
Bonas puellas, ) 

Bonorumpuerorum, ) Genitive, or possessive. 
Bonarum puellarum. ' 

Observe, also, how the verb conforms itself to its subject: 

[Ego^ audio=l hear, [iVbs] audimus=we hear, 

[Tu] audis=jon hear, [Vos] auditis=jou hear, 

[lUe] audit=h.e hears, [^^^*] audmnt=theY hear. 

206 



THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 207 

Consequently there is no ambiguity here: 

Bonus puei' pulchras puellas cantantes audivit= 
The good boy heard the beautiful girls singing. 

Audivit must have for its subject a singular substantive, 
which must therefore be 7:)i<er. To this term, sameness 
of form plainly indicates that bonus must be referred. 
Exactly the same inflection appears in jr)ulchras as in 
puellas — feminine, plural, accusative; and this fact 
determines the connection of the two. Nor is it possible 
to assign any other connection to the plural cantantes. 

Hence in Latin, Greek, primitive Saxon, and other in- 
flectional tongues, concord means the adjustment of 
words to one another chiefly by correspondence of form. 
But it has already appeared that such correspondence can 
exist only to a very limited extent in modern English. 
The verb has been practically released from all conformity 
to person except in the third singular. It has but one 
form for all the other persons, and therefore, except in the 
instance specified, can have no for7nal agreement. With 
the exception of a few pronouns, to which may be added 
the possessive case of nouns, there is scarcely any formal 
inflection. As the sentence is constructed with so little 
dependence upon verbal forms, concord, if it be not 
superfluous or profitless, must be held to regard the laws 
of reason, as well as of visible signs. Agreeably to this 
extended, twofold sense of the term, we proceed to enum- 
erate its leading requirements — the chief principles regu- 
lating the proper conjunction of words. 

1. The subject of a sentence is put in the nominative 
case. This rule — really applicable only to pronouns — is 
seldom transgressed except by persons altogether un- 



208 ESSENTIA LS OF ENGLISH. 

taught. Mistakes like the following are of the grossest 
kind: 

Them are good. 

John and me went. 

He was older than Tier ' [was old]. 

The following, as they occur in longer or somewhat in- 
volved constructions, are more easily pardoned: 

This is a man whom \who\ I think deserves encouragement. 

The fortress commands a great bend of the river, and gives to 
whomever [whoever'] holds it the control of the navigation. 

Seated on an upright tombstone, close to him, was a strange, un- 
earthly figure, whom Gabriel felt at once was no being of this world. 
— Dickens. 

2. The subject of the root-intinitive is put in the ob- 
jective case:'^ 

Let him [to] rise. 
Let us [to] fall. 

1 An attempt has been made to justify 'than me' by appeal to the awkward 
phrase ' than whom ' : 

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom, 

Satan except, none higher sat— Milton. 
It is urged, accordingly, that 'than' may govern the objective case by its own 
power; that in 'He is wiser than me,' it is a preposition, and the expression 
complete; but that in 'He is wiser than /,' it is a conjunction, and the expres- 
sion elliptical. 

This singular construction, however, though established by usage, is itself 
ixnnecessary as well as illogical. It contradicts, moreover, the analogy of both 
Latin and Greek, which require, after the comparative rj or guam (than), the 
same case as precedes. ' Than who ' would be more consistent, more accurate, 
and, even to unfamiliar ears, would not be intolerable. ' Than whom ' is an in- 
stance of grammatical vice which, from having been endured, is noAv, from its 
long continuance, likely to be embraced. 

Further, if ' than me ' is proper, why not ' as me ' ? Yet who does not receive 
a verbal shock from ©'Israeli's declaration, 'You know as well as me that he 
never swerves from his resolutions ' ? or from Trollope's question, 'What would 
be the feelings of such a woman as her ? ' 

2 The subject of the infinitive may be regarded, conventionally, as the object 
of the principal verb. Logically, it is but apari — thebase — of the complete 
object. 



THE SENTEN'CE — COl^TCORD. 209 

For me to draw those conclusions without knowing that I do bo, 
seems incomprehensible. 

Dicit montem ah hosiibiis teneri, — he affirms the hill to be held 
by the enemy. — Coisar. 

Scepe enim venit ad aures meas, te idem istud nimis crebro 
dicere, tihi satis te vixisse : for often it has come to my ears, you to 
say too frequently that same thing — you to have lived long enough 
for yourself. — Cicero to Ccesar.^ 

Not: 

Let he who made thee, [to] answer that. — Byron. 

Let they who raise the spell, [to] beiva?x the Fiend. — Bulwer. 

3. The subject of the participial infinitive is put in 
the possessive case. 

I was opposed to his writing the letter. 

This did not prevent John^s being inaugurated Duke of Nor- 
mandy. 

But that did him no more good than his afterward trying to 
pacify the Barons with lies. — Dickens. 

4. The subject of a noun-attribute is put in the pos- 
sessive case. 

Than if I win a Tcinges londe. — Gower. 
And far by Ganges' banks, at night, 

Is heard the tiger's roar. — 3Irs. Hemans. 

This rule is modified by two principles, — clearness, and 
euphony. The first forbids putting the possessive sign 
on a word far removed from the base of the phrase: 

Maximilian the Emperor's palace. 

The Emperor Maximilian's palace. 

Her Majesty Queen Victoria's government. 

The Captain of the Fulton's wife died yesterday. 

1 Pro M. Marcello Oratio, 

14 



210 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

The second governs everywhere in language, however 
subordinately. Thus, in a series of possessives denoting 
common possession, the sign is annexed but once: ' James, 
Peter, and Henry's father.' But separate possession: 
* James's,' Peter's, and Henry's father.' Regular con- 
struction would require, 'This book is your''\ but to avoid 
harshness, an illogical but euphonious s is added. Chau- 
cer writes: 

I wol be your in alle that ever I may. 

Again, regularity would require, 'a friend of me,' * that 
farm of Johnson,' 'that ugly face of him'; but 'friend of 
mine,' ' farm of Johnson's,' ' face of his,' have a more 
pleasing sound. It is incorrect to suppose a plural not 
expressed: 'friend of my (friends),' 'farm of Johnson's 
(farms),' 'face of his (faces).' The preposition 'of can 
be viewed simply as a sign of identification, or the object 
of it may be regarded as of double office and form. 

5. The object of an action or of a preposition is put 
in the objective case: 

The forest tribes have bent for ages 

To Thee, and to thy sires, the subject hnee, — Halleck. 

Who fed me from her gentle hreast, 
And hushed me in her arms to rest, 
And on my cheeks sweet kisses pressed. — Thomson. 

Freedom from violation of this rule very often depends 
upon the unchangeable nature of the noun, but, with the 
most popular writers, errors are not infrequent in the use 
of pronouns that are subject to a change of form: 

Who servest thou under? — Shakespeare. 

Who should I meet the other day but my old friend? — Steele. 

1 Charles's affairs. — Prescott. liouis's veign.—Macaulay. King James's 
Bible.— G^. P, Marsh. 



THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 211 

My son is going to be married to I don't know who. — Goldsmith. 

At an hour 
When all slept sound, save she who bore them both. — Rogers. 
Thou, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign ! —Burns. 

6. Appositives, attributive or predicative, are put in 
the same case as the nouns which they modify: 

It is /. 

He thought it to be me. 
Whom did you suppose the man to be? 

You are too humane and considerate, things few people can be 
charged with. — Pope. * 

True wit is like the precious stone 

Dug from the Indian mine, 
Which boasts two various powers in one, 
To cut as well as shine. — Swift. 
Reverence and tenderness are the hallowed avenues through 
which alone true souls can come together. — H. J. Tuckerman* 

Not: 

This shy creature, my brother says, is me. — Richardson. 

If there is one character more base, more infamous, more shock- 
ing, than another, it is him. — Sidney Smith. 

Ask the murderer, he who has steeped his hands in the blood of 
another. — Dr. Rudge. 

7. Pronouns must agree in gender, number, and per- 
son, with the nouns which they represent: 

I hear a voice you can not hear. 

Which says I must not stay; 
I see a hand you can not see, 

Which beckons me away. — Ticket. 
Ye stones, in ivhich my gore wall not sink, but 
Reek up to heaven! Ye skies, which will receive it! 
Thou Sun, which shin'st on these things! and Tliou 
Who kindlest and who quenchest suns I attest. — Byron. 



212 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

In the comparatively limited extent of its complexity, 
the English pronoun is the source of many errors. A few 
examples will indicate the most frequent and important 
of these, while they also will suggest what is right by the 
exhibition of what is wrong: 

She studied his countenance like an inscription, and deciphered 
each rapt expression that crossed it, and stored them [if] in her 
memory. — Charles Reade. 

Each of the sexes should keep within its particular bounds, and 
content themselves to excel within their respective districts. — Addi- 
son. 

He that pricketh the ear maketh it to show her knowledge. — Ec- 
clesiastes. 

Who ever thinks of learning the grammar of their own tongue, 
before they are very good grammarians? — Sidney Smith. 

Every person's happiness depends in part upon the respect they 
meet in the world. — Foley . 

It may be said that the last illustrates the prefer- 
ence of the plural when both genders are involved. But 
it seems quite as proper that ' his ' should be applied to 
both, as that 'man 'in a generic sense should include fem- 
inine subjects. Doubtless the plural is often used merely 
as a mode of getting out of the difficulty. Sometimes 
strictness is sought to be preserved by the use of * he ' or 
*she,' but this is felt to be cumbersome: 

The institution of property, reduced to its essential elements, 
consists in the recognition, in each person, of a right to the exclu- 
sive disposal of what he or she has produced by their own exertions. 
—J. S. Mill. . 

Better, we think: 

The institution of property, reduced to its essential elements, 
consists in the recognition, in each person, of a right to the exclu- 
sive dispo?al of wliat he has produced by his own exertions. 



THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 213 

8. Adjectives, as far as they are subject either to 
variation of form or to a restrictive application, should 
conform to the nouns which they modify: 

If I but stretch this hand, 
I heave the gods, tlie ocean, and the land. — Pope. 

A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly disposition 
prompted him, at the age of nineteen, to assume the mask of hypoc- 
risy, which he never laid aside. — Gibhon. 

I beg you will notice in the map, those vast solitudes which lie 
between High and Low Poetry. They are called the Deserts of 
Common Sense. Tliere is not a single city in the whole of this ex- 
tensive country ! — Fontenelle. 

Not: 

Tliose kind of things ! — Swift. 

These kind of sufferings ! — Sherlock. 

A feeble senate and [aii] enervated people. — Gibbon. 

Blessed be the man that provideth for the sick and [the] needy! 
— Psalm. 

A cherubim ! — Shakespeare. 

A phenomena! 
The omission of the article, in the third and fourth, im- 
plies but a single object of thought, whereas in each there 
are plainly two. In the fifth and sixth, there is an incon- 
sistency of number, the plural instead of the singular — 
* cherub ' * phenomenon.' A period of time, however, may 
be*treated as a unit: 

This many summers on a sea of glory \— Shakespeare. 
And Chaucer could say, without offence: 

In twenty manere cou'd he trip and dance. 

9. A finite verb should conform to its subject in num- 
ber and person. 



214 ESSElSfTIALS OF EKTGLISH. 

In the interpretation of this rule, primary regard must 
be paid to the meaning. It will thus appear that the 
following constructions are correct: 

' The scholar and the poet was also the Christian and the patriot.' 
(Different designations of the same object.) 

'Each maw, each womaii, each child, has a duty to discharge.' 
(Compound subject taken distributively. Elliptical usage: 'Each 
man [has], each woman [has].') 

' The toheel and axle was out of repair.' (The two things named 
make a unit by their combination.) 

'Why is dust and ashes proud.' (Second term used synony- 
mously with the first.) 

' The fleet is under orders to set sail.' (Predicate applies to the 
whole mass.) 

' A considerable number were induced to quit the body.' (Pred- 
icate applies to the individuals of the collection acting separately.) 

' The ivages of sin is death.' (Form plural, but meaning singu- 
lar: ' The consequence of sin is death.') 

'Six times six is thirty-six.' (Not six units, but an abstrac- 
tion.) 

' Two and tivo is four.' (Merely an arithmetical truth; the sum 
of two numbers is, makes up, another number.) 

'Whether thou or I am in fault.' ^He or they are to be pro- 
moted.' (Virtually contracted coordinate sentences; verb agrees 
with the nearest subject.) 

Errors in the application of this principle often arise fi^m 
an inadvertent reference of the verb to what is not the 
real subject: 

It is observable that each one of the letters hear date after his 
banishment. — Bentley. 

Each of the ladies, like two excellent actresses, were perfect in 
their parts. — Scott. 



THE SEiN^TEITCE — COI^CORD. 215 

All that is seen, — the world, the Bible, the Church, the civil 
polity, and man liimself, — are types! — J. H. Newman, 

The faults exemplified here are less excusable: 

Ethics, with atheism, are impossible! — Disraeli. 

Neither law nor opinion superadd artificial obstacles to the nat- 
ural ones. — J. S. Mill. 

Why, uncle, thou has many years to live. — Shakespeai-e. 

Nor heaven, nor earth have been at peace to-night. — Shake- 
speare. 

The poetry and eloquence of the Augustan age was assiduously 
studied in Mercian and Northumbrian monasteries. — Macaulay. 

10. In the use of irregular verbs, the past tense 
should be distinguished from the perfect participle: 

The barren ground was full of wicked weeds. 
Which she herself had sowen all about, 
Now growen great of little seeds. — Spenser. 

- His countenance meanwhile 
Was hidden from my view, and he remained 
Unrecognized ; but, strichen by the sight, 
With slacken'd footsteps I advanced. — Wordsivorth. 

Violations of this principle are scattered profusely over 
our literature: 

Rapt into future times, the bard begun {began. 

'A \irgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son.' — Pope. 

' And now the years a numerous train have ran [run. 

The blooming boy is ripen'd into man.' 

From liberty each nobler science sprung, [sprang. 

A Bacon brighten'd, and a Spenser sung. — Savage. [sang. 

To be avenged 
On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire, 
Too divine to be mistook. — Milton. 



216 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

The camp was almost immediately broke up. — Gibbon. 

But at the close of such a folio as this, wroie for their sakes. — 
Sterne. 

11. In the use of auxiliaries, the radical signification 
should harmonize with the idea to be expressed. * May ' 
is the sign of possibility or permission; 'can,' of ability; 
*must,' of necessity; 'will,' of resolution; 'shall,' of 
obligation : 

The fomy bridel, with the bitte of gold 

Governeth he ryght as himselfe hath ivolde ^ [willed']. — Chaucer. 

How be it he myghte have entred the cytie if he had wolde 
[wishedl . — Fabyan. 

And by that feith I shal [owe'] to God and yow. — Chaucer. 

. Be ure ae he sceal sweltan= 

By our law he ought to die. — John xix, 7. 

Thus ' I shall do ' means, fundamentally, ' I owe to do ' = ' I 
ought to do.' As a man is supposed to do what he 
acknowledges to be obligatory upon him, ' I shall do ' came 
to mean ' I a7n about to do ' — a mere announcement of 
future action on the part of the speaker. True to this 
radical sense, if we mean to put under obligation another 
person over whom we claim some control, we say, ' You 
shall ' or ' He shall.' Hence Shakespeare in Coriolanus : 

Shall remain! 

Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you 

His absolute shall 9 

Observe, also, the determination expressed in the following: 

This child I to myself will take ; 
She shall be mine, and I will make 
A lady of ray own. 

* Past indicative of ' will '. A present form, woll, survives in' won't ' = wol not. 



THE SENTEJsTCE — COiq-CORD. 217 

The stars of midnight sJiall be dear 

To lier; and she shall lean ]ier ear 

In many a secret place 

Where rivulets dance their wayward round, 

And beauty born of murmuring sound 

Shall pass into her face. — Wordsworth. 

If, however, it is not meant to deprive another of the 
exercise of his will, we assume that it is his volition to do 
thus or so, and, in reference to a future occurrence, say 
' You loill go,' ' He loill go.' Few mistakes, therefore, will 
be made, if it be fixed firmly in the mind that ' I shall,' 
*you will,' 'he will,' are the forms of the future; and that 
*I will,' 'you shall,' 'he shaU,' are the forms of purpose 
and authority. 'Would' and 'should' follow the regimen 
of 'will' and ' shall.' ^ The following are easily appre- 
hended examples of the proper uses of these words: 

I shall supply you with money now, and I will furnish you with 
a reasonable sum from time to time, on your application to me by 
letter. — George Eliot. 

He. I shall go to town to-morrow. Of course you will? 

She. No, thanks. I shall not go. I shall wait for better 
weather, if that will ever come. When sJmU we have three fair days 
together again ? 

jSe. Don't mind that. You should go. I should like to have 
you hear Eonconi. 

She. No, no; I ivill not go, 

Se {to himself). But you shall go, in spite of the weather and 
of yourself. (To her.) .... Do come; jon will enjoy the opera; 
and you shall have the nicest possible supper at Delmonico's. 

lit should, perhaps, be added that the auxiliary which expresses the speak- 
er's own contemplated future, expresses also his supposition of a future for 
himself or for others. Hence, 'If I, you, or he [shall] see him.' 'If I should 
meet him' (the preclusive or unlikely form). 'If you should have the oppor- 
tunity.' All such clauses are logically subject to a first-personal idea. ' Will ' 
and ' would ' are used, with such, only in the sense of volition. ' I may, if I 
will.'' ' If you will be [resolve or intend to be] there.' 



218 . ESSENTIALS OF EN^GLISH. 

She. No; I should not enjoy the opera 1 wouldnH y^d^ 

to the end of the drive for the best supper Delmonico will ever cook. 
.... I shall stay at home, and you shall have your opera and your 
supper all to yourself. — R. G. White. 

The confusion of ^ shall ' and ' will ' is not infrequent, even 
with the well educated. Vivacious temperaments con- 
found them, because they see no contingency in the 
future. The Irish and the Scotch are apt to use them 
without discrimination. The Irish servant says, ' Shall 
you take tea to-night, and will I bring it in?' Blair, a 
Scotch writer, says: 

Without having attended to this, we will be at a loss in under- 
standing several passages in the classics. 

The author of the anonymous Vestiges of Creation has, 
from a similar blunder, been suspected of being a Scotch- 
man: 

I do not expect that any word of praise which this work may 
elicit, shall ever be responded to by me ; or that any word of censure 
shall ever be parried or deprecated. 

The Englishman is proverbially cautious and exact, yet, at 
his best, is guilty of carelessness, here as elsewhere: 

If ye dew be onely upon ye flese, and dry upon all the grounde, 
then wyll I perceaue that thou shall delyver Israll thorow my 
hande, as thou hast said. — Coverdale : Judges vi. 

In judging only from the nature of thifigs, and without the surer 
aid of Revelation, one should be apt to embrace the opinion of Dio- 
dorus Siculus. — Warhurton. 

If I draw a catgut, or any other cord, to a great length between 
my fingers, Itvill make it smaller than it was before. — Goldsmith. 

You must make haste and gather me all you can, and do it 
quickly, or 1 will and shall do without it. — Johnson to Boswell. 

There is a fine use of ^ shall,' turning upon the ideas of in- 
evitableness and majesty. It is exemplified conspicuously 



THE SENTE:N^CE — CON^CORD. 219 

(yet unconsciously, we maybe sure) in Emerson; and 
critics, too careless or too dull to see its force, have re- 
proached him with an abuse of the Queen's English in 
such masterly passages as the following: 

There will be a new church founded on moral science, at first 
cold and naked, a babe in the manger again, the algebra and math- 
ematics of ethical law, the church of men to come, without shams 
or psaltery or sackbut; but it will have heaven and earth for its 
beams and rafters ; science^ for symbol and illustration ; it will fast 
enough gather beauty, music, picture, poetry. Was never stoicism 
so stern and exigent as this shall be. It shall send man home to 
his central solitude, shame these social supplicating manners, and 
make him know that much of the time he must have himself to his 
friend. He shall expect no cooperation, he shall walk with no com- 
panion. The nameless thought, the nameless Power, the super-per- 
sonal Heart, — he shall repose alone on that. 

How much of the grandeur, as well as of the power of as- 
surance, would be lost, if ' will ' were here substituted for 
* shall'! 

12. The time indicated by tense-inflections should 
harmonize with that indicated by other parts of the sen- 
tence. Not ^ He loas absent this whole week,' but * He has 
^ee?i absent this whole week;' 'This letter will reach you 
when the telegram that goes before it has {shall have) ar- 
rived.' ' I will see that he does it ' should be ' I will see 
that he do it.' That is, 'shall do.' A purpose looks 
to the future. The time of an infinitive is relative to that 
of the principal verb. ' I meant to have written ' should 
be 'I meant to v^rite.'' Instances of errors are: 

Swift, but a few months before, was willing to have hazarded 
all the hoiTors of civil war. — Jeffrey. 

Gray might perhaps have been able to have rendered him more 
temperate in his political views. — Southey. 



220 ESSENTIALS OF EN-GLISH. 

Those who would gladly have seen the Anglo-Saxon to have pre- 
dominated over the Latin element in our language — Trench. 

To have prevented their depreciation, the proper course, it is 
affirmed, would have been to have made a valuation of all the con- 
fiscated property. — J. S. Mill. 

13. Existing facts and general truths, however, should 
always be expressed in the present tense: 

He that gazes upon elegance or pleasure, which want of money 
hinders him from imitating or partaking, comforts himself that the 
time of distress will soon be at an end, and that every day briiigs 
him nearer to a state of happiness, though he knows it has passed, 
not only without acquisition of advantage, but perhaps without 
endeavors after it. — Adventurer. 

There is no end to the examples of blunders that might 
be given: 

* They ascertained that the Great Pyramid stood on the banks of 
the Nile.' 

' Ptolemy taught that the earth was in the centre of the uni- 
verse.' 

It would have been [would be] better if they had not repeated. — 
Dea?i Alford. 

Two young men have made a discovery that there was a God. — 
Swift. 

But if it be [is] true, which was said by a French prince, that no 
man wo;S a hero to the servants of his chamber, it is equally true 
that every man is less a hero to himself. — Johnson. 

14. In general, parts logically correspondent or alike, 
should be similarly constructed. This principle is vio- 
lated: 

(1) In the union of the antique and the modern styles, — 

It is for their sake that human law hath interposed in some 
countries of the world, and, by creating and ordaining a right for 
them, has endeavored to make good the deficiency of nature.— 
Chalmers. 



THE SENTENCE — COi^CORD. 221 

(2) In the incongruent union of modes, — 

While to law we would commit the defence of society from all 
the aggressions of violence,. .... we should tremble for human- 
ity lest it ivithered and expired under the grasp of so rough a pro- 
tection ; and lest, before a countenance grave as that of a judge, and 
grim as that of a messenger-at-arms, this frail but loveliest of the 
virtues shouldbe turned, as if by the head of Medusa, into stone. — 
Ibid. 

(3) In the union of auxiliary with simple forms, — 

The events which he narrates are authentic, but the subject 
could have been better chosen, and have [have had] more unity. — 
Peithman. 

I do assert that the nationality cannot rightfully [be], and that 
without foul wrong to the nation, it never has been [,] alienated 
from its original purposes. — Coleridge. 

(4) In the union of plural with singular forms, — 

Sparta ! Sparta ! why in slumbers 

Lethargic dost thou lie? 
Awake and join thy numbers 

To Athens, old ally; 
Leonidas recalling, 

That chief of ancient song, 
Who saved ye once from falling. 

The terrible — the strong. — Byron. 

(5) In the union of dissimilar elements by coordinate 
connectives, — 

' When ignorance is not wilful and sin [sinful].^ 

He embraced the cause of liberty faintly, and pursued it with- 
out resolution [irresolutely].'' 

He begged him at the same time carefully to preserve for him 
his Highland garb and accoutrements, particularly the arras, curious 
in themselves, and to which the friendship of the donors gave addi- 
tional value. — Scott. 



222 ESSENTIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

We have here a compound modifier of * arms.' Of its two 
numbers, the first is a phrase, and the second a clause. 
Both should be phrases, or both clauses: ^ Which were 
curious in themselves,' or * rendered additionally valuable 
by the friendship of the donors.' Otherwise, the incon- 
gruity may be avoided by the omission of ^and.' The 
blunder is very common, especially with those who either 
do not perceive the true relations of parts, because they 
are unable; or fail to regard them, because they are 
careless. 

(6) In the purposeless introduction of new words, or 
the incongruous union of responsive particles, — 

He was just one of those men that the country can't afford to 
lose, and whom it is so very hard to replace. —Anthony Trollope. 

I have amused myself by prophesying, as we drove into town, 
how this ugly lot of suburbs would join with that ugly lot, and that 
there would soon be one continuous street. — Helps. 

Natural language, neither bookish nor vulgar, neither redolent 
of the lamp 07' of the kennel. — Coleridge. 

He neither knew the manner in which, or the place where, his 
journey might be next Interrupted by his invisible attendant. — 
Scott. 

The error in the last two is double : ' neither ' should be 
put directly before the element upon which it logically 
throws its force, — the adjunct in the one case, the object 
in the other; and its only admissible correlative is *nor.' 
It may be proper, at this point, to notice the prevalent 
confusion in the usages of *or' and 'nor' in a negative 
sentence. It is sometimes difficult to determine which 
word should be used to continue a negative sense after a 
preceding negative. Length of parts or emphasis of dis- 
tinction would seem to give the preference to * nor ' : 



THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 223 

The king has 7W arbitrary power to give him ; your Lordships 
have not ; nor the Commons; no?- the whole Legislature. — Burke. 

Yet Paul did not waste all his hours in this idle vaporing, nor in 
the pleasures of the table. — Prescott. 

I can not tell which way his Majesty went, nor whether there is 
any one with him. — Fielding. 

*0r' may be preferable, or even necessary, if the parts 
are plainly affected by the preceding negative, if they are 
not emphatically distinguished, or if they are short and 
closely connected: 

He was certainly not very reverent in his conduct or in. his 
writings. — Dean Alford. 

No tie of gratitude or of honor could bind him. — 3Iacaulay. 

This was not to be ascribed chiefly or solely to political animosity. 
—Ihid. 

So long as they did not meddle with politics or religion. — 
Prescott. ^ 

In Milton's enumeration of the objects from which he had 
been cut oil by blindness, clearness would be promoted, 
perhaps, by the use of 'nor' between the coordinate 
subjects: 

Thus with the year 
Seasons return, but not to me returns 
Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n, or morn, 
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose, 
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine. 

EXERCISES. 

Justify, or criticise and correct, the following: — 

1. It is not me you are in love with. — Addison. 

2. Every one must judge of their own feelings. — Byron, 

3. Let there be 

No solace left for thou and me. — Shelley. 



224 ESSENTIALS OE ENGLISH. 

4. She was neither better bred nor wiser than you or me.— 
Thackeray. 

5. Neither of which are taken into account. — Dean Alford. 

6. The fact of such an objection having been made. — Ibid, 

7. It was expected that his first act would have been to have 
sent for Lords Grey and Grenville. — Alison. 

8. The reason is perspicuous why no French plays when trans- 
lated have, or ever can, succeed on the English stage — Dryderi. 

9. Both minister and magistrate is compelled to choose between 
his duty and his reputation. — Junius. 

1 0. The richness of her arms and apparel were conspicuous in 
the foremost rank. — Gibbon. 

11. No mightier than thyself or me. — Shakespeare. 

1 2. The spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no 
longer endure it. He that escapes me without some broken limb, 
shall acquit him well. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, 
which thou shalt find I will most kindly requite. — Ibid. 

13. I do not think any one to blame for taking due care of 
their health. — Addison. 

14. The boldness, freedom, and variety of our blank verse is 
infinitely more favorable than rhyme to all kinds of sublime poetry. 
— Blair. 

15. The following facts may or have been adduced as reasons 
on the other side. — Latham. 

1 6. How happy it is that neither of us were ill in the Hebrides. 
— Johiison. 

17. This paper should properly have appeared to-morrow. — 
Junius. 

18. During the last century no prime minister has become rich 
in ofiice. — Ibid. 

1 9. That cherubim which now appears as a god to the human 
soul, knows very well that the period will come above in eternity, 
when the human soul shall be as perfect as he himself now is. — 
Spectator. 



THE SEXTEl^CE — COXCORD. 225 

20. When I consider how eacli of these j)rofessions are crowded 
with multitudes. — Ibid. 

21. Either a pestilence or a famine, a victory or a defeat, an 
oracle of the gods or the eloquence of a daring leader were sufficient 
to impel the Gothic arms. — Gibbon. 

22. We know to what causes our past reverses have been owing, 
and we will have ourselves to blame if they are again incurred. — 
Aliso7i. 

23. What should we gain by it that we should speedily become 
as poor as them"^— Ibid. 

24. Let me awake the king of Morven, he that smiles in dan- 
ger; he that is like the sun of Heaven rising in a storm. — Macpher- 
son: Ossian. 

25. I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, or any 
other reward whatever. — Franklin. 

26. The very scullion .... becomes of more importance than 
him. — Ibid. 

27. Formerly we have conversed, together with Pericles, on this 
extraordinary man. — Landor. 

28. It is now about four hundred years since the art of multi- 
plying books has been discovered. — D' Israeli. 

29. Skinner, it is well known, held the same political opinions 
with his illustrious friend. — Macaulay. 

30. This does not so much seem to be owing to the want of 
physical powers, but rather to the absence of vehemence. — Alison. 

31. For this difference no other general cause can be assigned 
but culture and education. — Blair. 

32. Those who have explored with strictest scrutiny the secret 
of their own bosoms, ynl\ be least apt to rush with intolerant vio- 
lence into that of other men's. — Carlyle. 

33. Robert is there, the very out-come of him, and indeed of 
many generations of such as him. — Ibid. 

34. It is not worthy of the powers of its author, who can, and 
has at other times, risen into much loftier ground. — Gilfillan. 

15 



226 ESSEiq-TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

35. The literature of France, Germany, and England, are at 
least as necessary for a man born in the nineteenth century as that 
of Rome and Athens.— Bulwer. 

36. Concerning some of them, little more than the names are 
to be learned from literary history. — Hallam. 

37. Sir Thomas More in general so writes it, although not 
many others so late as him. — Tre?ich. 

38. Homer, as well as Virgil, were transcribed and studied on 
the banks of the Rhine and Danube. — Gihhon. 

39. America, as well as .Europe, has received letters from the 
one and religion from the other. — Ihid. 

40. Every one of this grotesque family were the creatures of 
national genius. — U Israeli. 

41. Those whose profession or whose reputation regulate public 
opinion. — Ibid. 

43. Everything that painting, music, and even place furnish, 
were called in to interest the audience. — Alison. 

43. Few, if any town or village in the south of England, has a 
name ending in hy. — Harrison. 

44. Professor Sedgwick, a man of eminence in a particular 
walk of natural science, but who should not have trespassed into 
philosophy, had lately published his discourses. — /. S. Mill. 

45. At least I am resolved that the country shall see who it has 
to thank for whatever may happen. — Brougham. 

46. And the persons who, at one period of their life, might 
take chief pleasure in such narrations, at another may be brought 
into a temper of high tone and acute sensibility. — Buskin. 

47. A constable will neither act cheerfully or wisely. — Swift. 

48. Frequented by every fowl whom nature has taught to dip 
the wing in water. — Johnson. 

49. If you were here, you would find three or four in the parlor 
after dinner whom (you would say) passed their time agreeably. — 
Locke. 



THE SENTENCE — CONCORD. 227 

50. And they dreamed a dream, both of them, each man his 
dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his 
dream. — Genesis. 

5 1 . And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death 
and hell gave up the dead that were in them ; and they were judged 
every man according to their works. — Revelation. 

52. Successful he might have been, had his horse been as am- 
bitious as he. — Goldsmith. 

53. Your ear still opening to the captive's cry ; 

Nor less was promised from thy early skill. — Savage. 

54. We are alone, here's none but thee and I. — Dryden, 

55. Holland and thee did each in other live. — Ibid. 

56. Sorrow not as them that have no hope. — Thessalonians. 

57. It is not fit for such as us to sit with the rulers of the land. 
— Scott. 

58. Which his instrument or skill were unable to achieve. — 
Ibid. 

59. The Prince was apprehensive that Waverley, if set at 
liberty, might have resumed his purpose of returning to England. — 
Ibid. 

60. 'Description,' he said, 'was to the author of romance ex- 
actly what drawing and tinting were to a painter; words were his 
colors.' .... 'The same rules,' he continued, 'applied to both, 
and an exuberance of dialogiTe in the former case was a verbose and 
laborious mode of composition, which went to confound the proper 
art of the drama, a widely different species of composition, of which 
dialogue was the very essence ; because all, excepting the language 
to be made use of, was presented to the eye by the dresses and 
persons, and actions, of the performers upon the stage.' — Ibid. 

61. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd .... and shall 
gently lead all those that are with young. — Isaiah. 

62. Let us turne to him with an upright heart So 

shall we shine as the sunne in the kingdom of our father; so shall 
God be our God, and will abide with us forever. — Bishop Jewell. 



228 ESSEIS'TIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

63. How does Nature deify us with a few and cheap elements! 
Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors 
ridiculous. The dawn is my Assyria ; . . . . broad noon shall be 
my England of the senses and the understanding ; the night shall be 
my Germany of mystic philosophy and dreams. — Emerson. 

64. A perfect traitor should have a face which vice can write no 
marks on — lips that will lie with a dimpled smile — eyes with such 
agate-like brightness and depth that no infamy can dull them — 
a cheek that will rise from a murder and not look haggard. — George 
Eliot 

Q5. Thou art a girl, as much brighter than her. 

As he is a poet sublimer than me. — Prior. 

QQ. On this moment he appeared, under this tree 
Stood visible — among these pines his voice 
I heard; here, with him, at the fountain talked. — Milton. 

67. When the helplessness of childhood, or the frailty of 
woman, make an appeal to her generosity. — Jeffrey. 

68. Madame de Stael observes that much of the guilt and the 
misery which are vulgarly imputed to great talents, really arise 
from not having talent enough. — Ibid. 

69. It was my intention to have arranged the contents of this 
new issue of The Queen's English under the parts of sipeech.—Dean 
Alford. 

70. All these difficulties and dangers are quite as real, and re- 
quire as much attention, and are fit subjects for practical teaching 
in our schools, quite as much as many points which, at present, 
receive perhaps an excessive attention in some of our text-books. — 
/. R. Seeley, Edwin A. Ahhott.^ 

1 Preface to English Lessons for English People. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 

Words lead to things: a scale is more precise,— 

Coarse speech, bad grammar, swearing, drinking, vice.— Holmes. 

Depend upon it, it is with our thoughts as with our persons — their intrinsic 
value is mostly undervalued, unless outwardly expressed in an attractive garb. 
— Daniel Webster. 

TN the construction of every period two things are to 
-*- be regarded, — the words that compose it, and the 
manner in which these are put together; the former re- 
sembling the materials of which a house is made, and the 
latter the order in which such materials are placed. 

The ideal is never fully expressed. All symbols are but 
hints of meaning. Words as the signs of our conceptions, 
are at best only imperfect representations of our thought, 
in general expressing too little or too much. Momentous 
disputes have, in every age, turned on the signification of 
a phrase, a term, or even a particle. Therefore, 'A man 
that seeketh precise truth had need to remember what 
every name he useth stands for, and to place it accord- 
ingly; or else he will find himself entangled in words as a 
bird in limetwigs; the more struggles, the more belimed.' ' 
To like purport says the poet Holmes, with characteristic 
felicity: 

One vague inflection spoils the whole with doubt • 

One trivial letter ruins all, left out; 

A knot can choke a felon into clay; 

1 Hobbes. 
229 



230 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

A knot will save him, spelt without the Tc ; 
The smallest word has some unguarded spot, 
And danger lurks in i without a dot. 

In discourse, as in music, no instruction can supply the 
need of general culture — the living in an atmosphere of 
literature and art; but direction, criticism, and advice form 
the foundation of proficiency in either. Carefully avoid- 
ing autocratic pronouncements as to v^hat is good or bad 
English, we shall proceed to record and illustrate the 
broadly recognized principles of choice, solely vs^ith a view 
to aiding the learner in selecting the most appropriate 
vesture for his ideas. 

Simplicity. — By this are meant the choice of simple 
words and their unaffected presentation. If properly and 
skilfully used, words readily and generally intelligible 
produce their full effect. The charm of childhood's un- 
conscious grace belongs to lines like these: 

A violet by the mossy stone 

Half hidden from the eye. 
Fair as a star when only one 

Is shining in the sky. — Wordsworth. 

Short words require a minimum of attention, and are cor- 
respondingly strong. Hence the strength of the Anglo- 
Saxon element, which, as we have seen, comprises the 
vocabulary of common life, — the language of th^ emo- 
tions, of the fireside, street, market, and farm. Hence 
the predominance of this element in the books most 
widely circulated, as the Bible, PilgriirCs Progress, Rob- 
inson Crusoe. The first of these is essentially monosyl- 
labic and concrete. Thus: 

Consider the lilies how they grow ; they toil not, they spin not ; 
and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 231 

like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day 
in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more 
will he clothe you, ye of little faith ! — St, Luke. 

Of like clearness, energy, and beauty, is this: 

As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted upon 
a certain place where was a den, and laid me down to sleep ; and as 
I slept, I dreamed a dream, and behold I saw a man clothed with 
rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a 
book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back, I looked, and 
saw him open the book, and as he read he wept and trembled; and, 
not being able to contain, he brake out into a lamentable cry, say- 
ing "What shall I do ? — Bunyan. 

'It is with words,' says Southey, 'as with sunbeams, — the 
more they are condensed, the deeper they burn,' Our 
literature abounds in passages of this Saxon brevity. 'I 
observe,' says Emerson, 'that all distinguished poetry is 
written in the oldest and simplest English words.' These 
must be held, however, to include not only natives, but 
many exotics, which are equally brief and clear. Writers 
who seek the utmost intelligibility, will avoid foreign 
words, not because they are foreign, but because they are 
not current. In the following smoothly flowing passage a 
large proportion of the words are of Romanic origin: 

It was the tomb of a crusader; of one of those military enthusi- 
asts, who so strangely mingled religion and romance, and whose 
exploits form the connecting link between fact and fiction, between 
the history and the fairy tale. There is something extremely pic- 
turesque in the tombs of these adventurers, decorated as they are with 
rude armorial bearings and Gothic sculpture. They comport with 
the antiquated chapels in which they are generally found ; and in 
considering them, the imagination is apt to kindle with the legend- 
ary associatio7is, the romantic fiction, the chivalrous pomp and 
pageantry which poetry has spread over the wars for the sepulchre 
ot Christ. — Irving. 



232 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

A copious infusion of Latin, in which long words prevail, 
gives the swelling, stately style, sometimes called * John- 
sonian': 

That affluence and power, advantages extrinsic and adventitious, 
.... should very often flatter the mind with expectations of feli- 
city which they cannot give, raises no astonishment; but it seems 
rational to hope that intellectual greatness should produce better 
effects; that minds qualified for great attainments should first 
endeavor to secure their own benefit ; and that they who are most 
able to teach others the way to happiness should, with most cer- 
tainty, follow it themselves. — Johnson. 

Johnson's definition of ' net-work ' exemplifies this 
mode of expression: 'Anything reticulated or decus- 
sated with insterstices at equal distances between the 
intersections.' Yet, if the thought is impressive, ponder- 
ous and majestic words are eminently fitting. * These 
dictionary words,' says De Quincey, ' are indispensable to 
a writer, not only in the proportion by which he tran- 
scends other writers as to extent and as to subtlety of 
thinking, but also as to elevation and sublimity.' * Big 
thinkers,' says Johnson, 'require big words.' The sim- 
pler words, indeed, have nerve and terseness, smack of 
experience, and are easy to grasp; but they have neither 
the height nor the breadth for every theme: they fulfil 
one set of functions; the more complex, another. Neither 
are good or bad absolutely, but only in relation to the 
subject and the occasion. The dowry of power is in the 
happy union of the two, as here: 

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
Clean from my hand ? No ! this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous seas incarnadine. 
Making the green one red. — Shakespeare. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 233 

The accusing spirit that flew up to heaven's chancery with the 
oath, blushed as he gave it in, and the recording angel, as he wrote 
it down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out forever. 
— Sterne. 

I saw the valley opening at the farther end, and spreading forth 
into an immense ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running 
through the midst of it, and dividing it into two equal parts. The 
clouds still rested on one-half of it, insomuch that I could discover 
nothing in it : bift the other appeared to me a vast ocean planted 
with innumerable islands, that were covered with fruits and flow- 
ers, and interwoven with a thousand little shining seas that ran 
among them. I could see persons dressed in glorious habits, with 
garlands upon their heads, passing among the trees, lying down by 
the side of fountains, or resting on beds of flowers; and could 
hear a confused harmony of singing birds, falling waters, human 
voices, and musical instruments. Gladness grew on me upon the 
discovery of so delightful a scene. I wished for the wings of an 
eagle that I might fly away to those happy seats. — Addison. 

Affectation. — Opposed to that moderation in which 
lies the first excellence of diction, is the itching for vs^hat 
Lord Brougham calls a 'long-tailed word in -osity or 
-ation.^ Many people, now-a-days, do not live in houses, 
but they 'reside in residences'; they do not go to church, 
but they ' attend divine service.' With them fires are not 
put out, but ' conflagrations are extinguished'; a criminal 
is not hung, but is 'launched into eternity'; schools are 
not founded, but 'institutions are inaugurated'; a rail- 
road accident is always a 'holocaust'; girls are 'led to 
the hymeneal altar'; persons are 'individuals,' 'charac- 
ters,' or 'personages.' Dread of commonplace drives 
them into the opposite extreme of disproportionate finery. 
Disproportionate, for a splendid dress can never be 
objectionable in itself, but when it ill accords with the 
wearer, the time, the place, or the company, it becomes 



234 esse:n^tials of eistglish. 

offensive. Even reputable writers and speakers not sel- 
dom betray this undue fondness for the unusual and far- 
fetched. The following are examples: 

He put aside the omens on account of their incertitude. — Helps. 

Even if this aleatory proceeding were a proper device. — Sumner. 

Just then, on changing my position, my head struck against 
something which depended from the ceiling. — Brockden Brown. 

By my side was a square-built, fresh-colored personage. — Bry- 
ant. 

My travelling companions were very disagreeable individuals. — 
Ibid. 

Turning out of the main road, we began to ascend a steep and 
green declivity. — Ibid. 

I bore the diminution of my riches without any outrages of sor- 
row ov pusillanimity of dejection. — Johnson. 

The evil infests all classes, more or less, being, of 
course, at its worst among sensational novelists and 
journalists, Freshman and Sophomore students, and the 

* vulgar genteel,' who would seem elegant, making up in 
pretence what they lack in reality. * The domestic 
assistants,' said Mr. Pecksniff, * sleep above.' Said a 
schoolmaster to a Maine farmer, 'You are excavating a 
subterranean channel, it seems.' ' No, sir,' was the reply, 

* I am only digging a ditch.' To a young lady who asked 
Governor Corwin, of Ohio, ' Will you take condiments in 
your tea, sir?' the great wit replied, 'Pepper and salt, 
but no mustard.' To those who have something to say, 
with a purpose in saying it, yet who feel themselves 
tempted to search, without due regard to fitness, for a 
sounding phrase, we commend the words of Henry Ward 
Beecher: 'Don't whip with a switch that has the leaves 
on, if you want to tingle.' 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 235 

Precision. — Not only should the particular sign, as far 
as possible, be currently intelligible and commensurate 
with the thing signified, — it should exhibit, with the 
greatest possible accuracy the meaning which the writer or 
speaker intends to convey. In general, where this exact- 
ness is attained, there is energy as well as clearness. 
Thus: 

The sea, the sea, the open sea, 
The blue, the fresh, the ever free. — Cornicall. 
: Arms on armor clashing bray'd 

Horrible discord, and the madding wheels 
Of brazen chariots rag'd ; dire was the noise 
Of conflict; overhead the dismal hiss 
Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew.^ — 3Iilton. 
I do not give you to posterity as a pattern to imitate, but as an 
example to deter; and as yom- conduct comprehends everything that 
a wise or honest minister should avoid, I mean to make you a nega- 
tive instruction to your successors forever. — Junius. 

He can bribe, but he cannot seduce. He can buy, but he cannot 
gain. He can lie, but he cannot deceive. It is the very struggle of 
the noble Othello. His heart relents, but his hand is firm. He does 
naught in hate, but all in honor. He kisses the beautiful deceiver 
before he destroys her.^ — 3Iacaulay. 

Impropriety. — Precision stands opposed, in the first 
place, to the use of words which express some other idea 
or relation than that which the author intends. It is said 
that the brilliant Curran once carelessly observed in court, 

* an action lays,' and the judge corrected him by remarking, 

* Lies, Mr. Curran, — hens lay.' Subsequently, when the 
judge ordered a counsellor to ' set down,' Curran retaliated, 
'Sit down, your honor, — hens set.' This species of blund- 

1 In connection with 0)iomatopma, the words are so precise as to suggest 
the sounds of battle. 

^The more precise (vivid) because, like the preceding, antithetical. 



236 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

er, arising often from mere carelessness but chiefly either 
from a seeming analogy between one term and another or 
from ignorance of the authorized signification, mars many 
a fine passage in English literature. The following are a 
few examples: 

And dashest him again to earth: there let him lay. — Byron. 

A doubt his lady could demecm herself 
So low as to accept me. — Broiv7iing. 

The roads began to become a \\tt\Q. practicaUe. — Scott. 

We have much to say on the subject of this Life, and ivill often find 
ourselves to dissent from the opinions of the biographer. — Macaulay. 

For this difference no other general reason can be assigned hut 
culture and education. — Blair. 

He is resolved of going to the Persian court. — Bentley. 

The Greeks, fearing to be surrounded on all sides, wheeled about 
and halted, with the river on their backs. — Goldsmith. 

He has a good record, I am told, and preaches to acceptance. — 
Bryant. 

I am from America, where my home is at the North ; and I would 
like to know why so many Englishmen dislike me on that account. — 
Ibid. 

Sometimes the impropriety is a result of the manner in 
which terms are combined: 

Some lofty intellect, capable of soundvng the nnfaniomahle 
abysses of hers. — Willis. 

Of nineteen tyrants who started up after the reign of Gallienus, 
there was not one who enjoyed a life of peace or a natural death. — 
Oihhon. 

Which convinced the heroic princess that her attempt, for the 
present at least, ha.d permanently failed, — Alison. 

To reconstruct such a work in another language were business 
for a man of different powers than has yet attempted German trans- 
lation among us. — Carlyle. 



THE SENTElifCE — DICTIOK. 237 

To these errors we may appropriately add the use of a 
word susceptible, in itself or in its position, of several 
meanings or references: 

As I am of that nature that I love quiet. I keep without my 
lodgings as much as possible. — Bnjant. 

They were persons of such moderate intellects, even before they 
were impaired by their passion, that their irregularities could not 
furnish sufficient variety of folly. — Steele. 

He wrote to that distinguished pliilosopher in terms polite and 
flattering, begging of him to come and undertake his education, and 
bestow on him those useful lessons of magnanimity and virtue which 
every great man ought to possess ; and which his numerous avoca- 
tions rendered impossible for him. — Goldsmith. 

Confusion of Synonyines. — In the second place pre- 
cision is violated by the faulty use of synonymous words. 
As, by the significant changes of language, the same word 
is brought to designate different things, so different words 
are brought to designate the same thing or nearly the 
same. Nearly, for no two words are the exact equiva- 
lents of each other, though it may answer practical pur- 
poses to use them. There is always discernible some 
shade of difference. Synonyme is commonly applied, there- 
fore, to words not identical, but similar in meaning; 
generically so alike as to be liable to be confounded, yet 
specifically so different as to require to be distinguished. 
Thus * fright,' 'terror,' 'dread,' 'alarm,' 'apprehension,' 
*panic,' 'tremor,' 'timidity,' ' fearful n ess,' 'horror,' express 
various degrees of that shrinking feeling called ' fear.' If 
the degree experienced is 'fright,' 'apprehension ' would 
be too weak; 'terror,' which is still less than 'horror,' 
would be too strong. In the employment of synonymes, 
consequently, care should be had that the word does not 



238 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

depart too far from the idea to be expressed. As nearly 
as possible, let the two be accordant. The following 
examples are open to criticism: 

The centre ^ of the grand alley. — Macaulay. 

It is a hereditary aristocracy which alone can be depended upon 
in such a contest, because it only ^ possesses lasting interests which 
are liable to be affected by the efforts of tyranny. — Alisoti. 

Hast thou walked in the world with such little observance ^ as to 
wonder that men are not always what they seem ? — Scott. 

There were but two lines to be taken, either to relax and modify 
the regulations which gave offence, or to enforce a more punctual 
observation of them. — Hallomi. 

The ivhole'^ Russians are inspired with the belief that their 
mission is to conquer the world. — Alison. 

A single quotation from the epistles of Horace, in his Life of 
ImcuUus, exhausts, if I do not mistake, the entire ^ of his references 
to a poetry inferior, it is true, as a whole, to that of Greece, but with 
superiorities of its own. — Trench. 

Hyperbole. — This consists of overstatement. We 
refer, not to that rhetorical and emotional use of it 
which forms one of the chief elements of efficiency in ora- 
tory and of charm in poetry, but that enthusiastic, undis- 
criminating use of it, in relation even to the most ordinary 

' Specific ; involving the idea of a circle. A more general term is required 
— ' middle.' 

2 Contracted from 'one-ly' = ' one-like'; weaker than 'alone,' compound of 
' all ' and 'one ' = ' altogether one,' that is, by one's self, marking the state of a 
person or thing, as of a single house in a forest. 

3 The act of observing a thing in the sense of keeping or holding it sacred. 
'Observation' is the act of observing objects with the view to examine them. 

4 Respects a single body with its components, hence can mean only those 
who have not lost a leg, an arm, or some other part; 'all' respects a number of 
individuals. 

5 Has no reference to parts, excludes division ; 'total' denotes the aggregate, 
the collected sum of parts, indicating extent; 'whole,' the junction of all the 
parts. 'Entire,' moreover, is wrongly used for the noun. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 239 

themes, which violates simplicity and elegance as well as 
precision. Some people would be always electrifying us 
with intensity of expression. If it rains, ' it beats all the 
storms since the flood.' To get sprinkled is to be ' drenched 
to the skin.' A zephyr is a ^ hurricane,' a hill is an * Alpine. 
Everything that pleases is positively 'delicious,' 'nice, 
'charming,' 'splendid,' 'grand.' Everything that displeas 
es, is 'hateful,' 'dreadful,' ' horrid,' ' shocking.' A school 
girl will be ' awfully ' tired, will ' love ' pickles, will ' adore 
sweet potatoes. Then, too, what marvellous adventures 
what hair-breadth escapes she will have, — and the ^omar 
will probably continue the extravagance of the girl. There 
are no degrees of comparison. Several days in every sum 
mer are the hottest ever known; several days in every win 
ter, the coldest; the last good sermon, the best. Such con 
versationists soon cease to be credited by the intelligent 
Where all is emphatic, there is no emphasis. Constant 
violence of language is evidence of feebleness of thought 
' He who has a superlative for everything,' says Lavater, 
'wants a measure for the great or small.' 

Conciseness. — For the cardinal who spoke thirty 
languages, and understood one hundred and fourteen, 
De Quincey suggested the epitaph: 'Here lies a man 
who, in the act of dying, committed a robbery, — abscond- 
ing from his fellow-creatures with a valuable polyglot dic- 
tionary.' A distinguished lady, told tlmt Scaliger was 
acquainted with twenty different languages, remarked: 
'That's twenty words for one idea; I would rather have 
twenty ideas for one word.' To a judge who asked Aaron 
Burr why lawyers cannot save the time and spare the 
patience of the court and jury by dwelling only on the 



240 ESSENTIALS OF EI^-GLISH. 

important points in their cases, reply was made: * Sir, you 
demand the greatest faculty of the human mind, selection.' 
The central idea of the quality here implied is verbal econ- 
omy — fulness in little compass. A thought that can as 
well be presented in a sentence or two, should not be wire- 
drawn into a dozen. Mental operations are far more 
rapid in this than in any former age. What men of to- 
day want, is vivid, direct statement, quick movement. 
* Many words darken counsel.' If surplus syllables dimin- 
ish the strength of the impression by absorbing mental 
force, much more do surplus words. The most effective 
writers have shown an austere conscientiousness of 
phrase: 

Men walk as prophecies of the next age. — Emerson. 

Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak 
out of stone walls. — Ibid. 

History is a mighty drama, enacted upon the theatre of time, 
with suns for lamps, and eternity for a background. — Carlyle. 

Speech is but broken light upon the depths of the unspoken. — 
George Eliot. 

They make a solitude, and call it peace. — Tacitus. 

To woman it is given to weep, to man to remember. — Ibid. 

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense. 

Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence. — Pope. 

Violent delights have violent ends, 
And iij their triumph die. — Shahespeare. 

Content may dwell in all stations. To be low, but above con- 
tempt, may be high enough to be happy Eough diamonds are 

sometimes mistaken for pebbles ; and meanness may be rich in ac- 
complishments which riches in vain desire. — Sir Thomas Browne. 

Crafty men contemn studies ; simple men admire them ; and wise 
men use them ; for they teach not their own use : that is a wisdom 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 241 

without them, and won by observation. Read not to contradict, nor 
to believe, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, 
others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. 
Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an 
exact man. And therefore if a man write little, he had need have a 
great memory; if he confer little, have a present wit; and if he read 
little, have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not. His- 
tories make men wise, poets witty, the mathematics subtle, natural 
philosophy deep, morals grave, logic and rhetoric able to contend. — 
Bacon. 

Tautology. — This is the useless or tedious repetition 
of an idea, as in ' umbrageous shade,' * mutually recipro- 
cal,' * popular with the people.' The following are cases 
in point: 

He was by no means deficient in the subordinate and limited 
virtue which alleviates and relieves the wants of others. — Scott. 

He walked on foot, bareheaded. — Macaiday. 

Such is the whole sum-total of information which the assiduity 
of commentators has collected. — Carlyle. 

The miracle which genius produced, it may repeat, whenever the 
same happy combination of circumstances shall occur together. — 
D'lsraeli. 

Th6 chief mistakes made by the Irish in pronouncing English, 
lie, for the most part, in the sounds of the two first vowels, a and e. 
— Sheridan. 

The separation did not take place till after the language had 
attained the ripeness of maturity. — Trench. 

Every one that resided in the valley was required to propose 
whatever might contribute to make seclusion pleasant, to fill up the 
vacancies of attention, and lessen the tediousness of time. — Johnson. 

In some of the above, the repeated word or phrase may 
not be an exact reproduction of what has been said, but 
the distinction is so slight that the only effect is to emas- 
IG 



242 ESSEI^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

culate the expression. In the last, perhaps the third 
infinitive is justified by presenting the idea of the first 
under a new aspect. The auctioneer of Middlemarch 
furnishes a very apt illustration of the fault in question: 

A very nice thing, a very superior publication, entitled * I van hoe.' 
You will not get any writer to beat him in a hurry, I think ; he will 

not in my opinion speedily be surpassed I hope some one 

will tell me ; I hope some individual will apprise me of the fact. 

Pleonasm,. — Unlike the preceding, this fault consists 
in the addition of useless words — words which, without 
repeating the idea, add nothing to either sense or sound. 
It assumes various forms, some of which are: 

In the afternoon I attended at one of the churches. — Bryant. 

But I have no inclination to the telling of any more of my dis- 
comforts. — Ihid. 

I have no doubt hut that the pistol is a relic of the buccaneers. — 
Irving. 

Even a beadle, acted upon by a sudden and powerful impulse, 
may be aflfl^icted by a momentary visitation of loss of self-possession 
and forge tfulness of personal dignity. — Dickens.^ 

It follows that precision can only be attained to when such words 
are used with perfect accuracy. — De Mille.'^ 

Rhetoric, then, lies in between grammar and logic. — Kellogg.^ 

V^erhosity. — This is a vice so pervasive as to be incura- 
ble except by recasting the sentence. It often arises from 
poverty of thought, leading the author to repeat over and 
over the modicum of sense which he can command; or 
from vagueness of thought, in which the author wanders 

1 Perhaps the strictly pleonastic portion is 'visitation of.' Either of the 
succeeding phrases may then be regarded as tautological. 

2 Elements of Rhetoric : Also, ' only ' is improperly placed. 

3 Text-BooTc on Rhetoric. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION". 243 

about the point, instead of going straight to it; sometimes 
from an ease of expressing the same thing in a variety of 
ways; sometimes from mere fulness of words and love of 
sound, with little attention to meaning. It may be other- 
wise known as that extreme diffuseness in which lengtli 
and shallowness go together. Essence is diluted into a 
thin, spiritless mixture. The style is ridiculed here: 

Circumstances beyond iny individual control have, for a consid- 
erable length of time, effected, as they ever must, a severance of 
that intimacy which, in the limited opportunities conceded to me of 
contemplating, in the midst of my professional duties, the scenes 
and events of the past, tinged by the prismatic hues of memory, etc. 
— Dickens. 

For still more humorous examples of this prolixity, turn 
to the speeches of Dame Quickly and of Polonius in 
Shakespeare. A milder type of verbosity is that polite 
circumlocution which disdains to give to a common thing 
a common name: 

The winds of March, smiting insidiously 
Rais'd in the tender passage of the throat 
Viewless obstruction. — Wordsworth. 

This, perhaps, is akin to affectation — the vain attempt to 
elevate expression — the desire of seeming to be what we 
are not. 

Paucity. — A writer may be too brief, carelessly or 
studiously. Of blundering ellipses: 

A squirrel can climb a tree quicker than a loy. — Webster. 

The orchards of the apple and pear in your western counties 
excited my admiration. — Bryant. 

I am far from an mquisitive man by temperament. — Bulwer. 

The reader is requested to note a seeming contradiction in the 
two views which have been given of Graham Bretton — the public 
and private. — Charlotte Bronte, 



244 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

South, as great a wit as a jjreacher, has separated the superior 
and the domestic. — D' Israeli. 

A little dinner, not more than the Muses, with all the guests 
clever, and some pretty, offe?-s ^ human life and human nature under 
very favorable circumstances. — D' Israeli. 

Studied conciseness is liable to become obscure. Emer- 
son's frugality often clouds his meaning; as, 

Every man is an inlet to the same and all of the same. 

A certain amplitude of treatment is often allowable for 
embellishment, often necessary for impression. How viv- 
idly are great distance and great velocity expressed by 
the periphrasis here: 

From morn 
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, 
A summer's day ; and with the setting sun 
Dropt from the zenith like a falling star. — Milton. 

How the effect is heightened here by the accumulation of 
particulars: 

Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks ; 

A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon ; 

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, 

Inestimable stones, unvalued .jewels — 

All scattered in the bottom of the sea. — Shakespeare. 

In the following passage on Conciliation with America, 
how much force is gained by enlarging upon the fact of 
increasing population: 

But whether I put the numbers too high or too low is a matter of 
little moment. Such is the strength with which population shoots 
in that part of the world that, state the numbers as high as we will, 
while the dispute continues the exaggeration ends. While we are 
discussing any given magnitude, they are growing to it. While we 

^ Confusion of synonymes. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 245 

spend our time in deliberating on the mode of governing two 
millions, we shall find that we have two millions more to manage. 
Your children do not grow faster from infancjy to manhood than they 
spread from families to communities, and from villages to nations. — 
Burke. 

In the following noble attempt to define the Deity, omni- 
presence is fundamental to every line, yet each vivifies and 
enlarges our conception by presenting the God-idea in a 
new light, as well as by detaining attention: 

All are but parts of One stupendous whole, 

Whose body nature is, and God the soul ; 

That, chang'd through all, and yet in all the same, 

Great in the earth, and in th' ethereal frame, 

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees; 

Lives through all life, extends through all extent. 

Spreads undivided, operates unspent ; 

Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part. 

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; 

As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, 

As the rapt seraph that adores and burns. 

To him no high, no low, no great, no small, 

He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. — Pope. 

The long-standing argument for the immortality of the 
soul is based upon the proposition that desire implies 
satisfaction. Observe the force which this statement 
acquires by the multiplication of instances or illustrations: 

All men desire to be immortal. The desire is instinctive, 
natural, universal. In God's world such a desire implies the satis- 
faction thereof equally natural and universal. It cannot be that 
God has given man the universal belief in immortality, and yet 
made it a mockery. Man loves truth, tells it, rests only ' on it, yet 
how much more God,"^ who is the trueness of truth. Bodily senses 

1 Not in proper position. 2 Improper ellipsis. 



246 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

imply their objects — the eye, light; the ear, sound; the touch, the 
taste, the smell, things relative thereto. Spiritual senses likewise 
foretell their object — are silent prophecies of endless life. The love 
of justice, beauty, truth, of man and Grod, points to realities unseen 
as yet. We are ever hungering after noblest things, and what we 
feed on makes us hunger more. — Parker. 

Written compositions, of course, should be more concise 
than spoken ones; for, in the first case, the reader can 
pause at pleasure; in the second, the whole meaning 
must be caught from the mouth of the speaker. In judg- 
ing when it is proper to lean to the one style or the other, 
we must be directed also by the nature of the theme and 
the purpose of the discourse. The one question to be 
considered as to the number of words, is. Will the addi- 
tional term or statement strengthen the impression or 
weaken it ? 'It is silly,' says Landor, ' to argue that we 
gain ground by shortening on all occasions the syllables of 
a sentence. Half a minute, if indeed so much is requisite, 
is well spent in clearness, in fulness, and pleasurableness 
of expression, and in engaging the ear to carry a message 
to the understanding.' 

Purity. — This consists in the use of such words and 
constructions as are sanctioned by a plurality, if not the 
majority, of good contemporary writers. 

Foreign Words. — The poverty of Anglo-Saxon once 
compelled a copious introduction of foreign material; but, 
outside of the domain of science, the necessity occurs now 
but seldom, and the needless employment of unfamiliar 
terms from other languages savors of pedantry as well as 
offends the reader. It affects to display learning, but 
generally betrays vanity. Said Bryant to a would-be 
newspaper contributor, ' My young friend, I observe that 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 247 

you have used several French expressions in your article. 
I think that if you will study the English language, you 
will find it capable of expressing all the ideas that you 
may have. I have always found it so; and in all that I 
have written, I do not recall an instance in which I was 
inclined to use a foreign word, but that, on searching, I 
found a better one in my own language.' 

The following examples illustrate the temptation to 
strut in borrowed finery: 

I have planned more poems and more histories; so that, when- 
ever I am removed to another state of existence, there will be some 
valde lacrymahile hiatus in some of my posthumous works. — 
Southey. 

We have before us an article from the pen of a very clever 
writer, and, as it appears in a magazine which especially professes 
to represent the ' best society,' it may be taken as a good specimen 
of the style. It describes a dancing party The reader is in- 
formed that all the people at the dance belong to the beau monde, as 
maybe seen at a, coujj d'oeil; the demi-monde is scrupulously ex- 
cluded, and in fact everything about it bespeaks the haut ton of the 
whole affair. A lady who has been happy in her hair-dresser, is 
said to be coiffee a ravir. Then there is the bold man to describe. 
Having acquired the savoir faire, he is never afraid of making a 
faux pas, but, no matter what kind of a conversation is started, 
plunges at once in medias res. — Quoted in Queen^s English. 

Carry the show a little farther, and the coat of many 
colors becomes a thing of shreds and patches, as in the 
address of Jemeno, the priest, to Mr. Coleridge: 

Como esta, Monsieur ? J'espere que usted se porte vary well. 
Le Latin est good ting, mais good knowledge, sin el Latin, rien to 
be done. 

The words may be native or naturalized, but the idiom 
alien: 



248 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

As I was exceeded with fatigue, I no sooner made my toilette 
than I let myself fall upon a bed of repose, where sleep came to sur- 
prise me. My lord and I are in the intention to make good cheer, 
and a great expense, and this country is in possession to furnish 
wherewithal to amuse oneself. All that England has of illustrious 
— all that youth has of amiable, or beauty of ravishing, sees itself 
in this quarter.^ — Hannah More. 

Obsolete Words. — We have seen that as language, like 
everything else in the world, is subject to change, some 
words inevitably go out of fashion; some alter their 
meaning; some degenerate in value; some rise in impor- 
tance; while here and there one wakes from a Rip Van 
Winkle sleep. There is little probability that an anti- 
quated expression will be used inadvertently; to use it 
wilfully in ordinary prose is affectation. It is permissible, 
however, where the writer, as in a historical novel, desires 
to suggest antiquity, — to characterize the time in which 
the scene is laid. Within the limits of moderation, it is 
also appropriate in poetry, to impart stateliness, or to give 
the truth of resemblance: 

/ wis in all the senate. 

There was no heart so bold. — Macaulay. 

I who erewhile the happy garden sang. — Milton. 

As his corse to the ramparts we hurried. — Wolfe. 

Right jollie is ye tailyor-man 
As annie man may be.^ — Saxe. 

Whilom in Albion's isle there dwelt a youth 
* Who ne in virtue's ways did take delight; 

Ah me! in sooth he was a godless wight, 
Childe Harold was he hight. — Byron. 

1 Satirical Letter from a Lady to her Friend, in the Reign of George the 
Fifth. 

2 Combines imitations of archaic orthography. 



THE SENTEIfCE — DICTION. 249 

N'eic TTords. — Upon the varied growth which the Eng- 
lish language exhibits, it is unnecessary to enlarge. Learn- 
ing, invention, discovery, art, fashion, popular commotions, 
foreign intercourse, the progress of thought, — have in 
every age from Chaucer, brought it new accessions of 
beauty and strength. So long as it has vitality, this pro- 
cess must continue. The living tree, which castg off some 
leaves, will, by the law of its nature, put forth others. 
The novelty of one period may be the standard of an- 
other; but in their transition state, before they have 
become reputable, purity of style requires that newly 
coined words should be eschewed, at least by such as have 
their spurs to win. Let the masters determine the prac- 
tice. Yet let even them be chary. Words that do not 
supply a felt want perish on the page on which they are 
written. Where now are the ' influencive ' and ' extroit- 
ive ' of Coleridge, or the ' commentitious ' and ' exscribe ' 
of Bentley ? ' Come like shadows, so depart,' On the 
other hand, vainly did Johnson deride ' clumsy,' * con- 
scious,' 'damp,' 'inflate,' 'reciprocal'; vainly did Swift 
fight against 'mob,' 'ambassador'; and Landor against 
* antique,' * passenger,' 'man of talent.' The better course 
is to maintain a judicious conservatism : 

In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; 
Alike fantastic if too new or old: 
Be not the first by whom the new are tried, 
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. — Pope. 

Colloquialism. — This pertains to common conversation, 
and has a place in familiar writing, but is objectionable 
in formal or elegant discourse. It includes such contrac- 
tions as 'I'm,' 'he's,' 'isn't,' 'we're,' 'you're,' 'didn't,' 
'I'd,' 'ain't.' The last is quite indefensible. ' Don't,' a 



250 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

contraction for * do not,' is ungrammatical and vulgar 
when used for Moes not': 

The clock don't tick as it goes. — Buhver. 

Slang. — This name is said to have been given first to 
the jargon of gypsies, but it now extends to all degrees 
of respectability, as well as of vulgarity. Nearly every 
set or clique of men has its peculiar phraseology, while 
some forms are common stock. 'The rosy' (for wine), 
* the downy ' (for bed), ' the governor ' (for father), ' no 
end of fun,' ' a sell,' 'sold,' 'to look seedy,' 'go back on,' 
'a brick,' 'worth a red,' 'played out,' 'put her through,' 
'slop over,' 'let 'er slide,' 'fork over,' — are instances. 
The words are genuine, the meaning arbitrary. ' A little 
racy slang,' says Richard Grant White, 'may well be used 
in the course of one's daily talk; it sometimes expresses 
that which otherwise would be difficult, if not impossible of 
expression.' Indulgence, however, is dangerous. The style 
of speech is generally low, not seldom silly. It is allow- 
able in works of wit and humor, where a certain playful- 
ness and conversational freedom are proper, but, even 
here, it must be under the guidance of good taste. Sterne 
and Thackeray are examples of its successful use; Twain, 
of its nauseous use. In serious or dignified writings it is 
always a blemish. ' A tendency to slang, to colloquial 
inelegancies, and even vulgarities,' says Professor Whit- 
ney, 'is the besetting sin against which we, as Americans, 
have especially to guard and struggle.' 

Solecism. — Pure English demands that there be no 
departure from the laws of construction fundamental to 
the human mind or sanctioned by the best usage. These 
have been considered under concord, where it has been 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION". 251 

seen that even good authors fall into gross offences against 
grammar. It must be evident that correctness requires 
from the literary man far more attention than it usually 
receives. ' Solecism ' is said to be derived from Soli, a 
town of Cilicia, the people of which corrupted the pure 
Greek. 

Euphony. — Much of the beauty of language depends 
upon the prevalence of agreeable sounds, singly and in 
conjunction. A smoothly flowing movement pleases the 
ear and deepens the impression. A valuable idea, melodi- 
ously expressed, lingers long in memory. There is also 
such a thing as harmony of sound with sense, as when 
words suggest lofty ideas by their fulness; gentle motion 
by their sweetness or faintness; tumultuous motion by 
their roughness; or settled emotion by their slowness. The 
following passages are highly euphonious: 

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, 

Which in their summer beauty kissed each other. — Shakespeare. 

The morning steals upon the night, 
Melting the darkness. — Ibid. 

I love the old melodious lays 

Which softly melt the ages through. — Whittier. 

And neither the angels in heaven above, 
Nor the demons down under the sea, 

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. — Poe. 

Two craggy rocks projecting to the main, 

The roaring winds' tempestuous rage restrain 

Within, the waves in softer murmurs glide. 

And ships secure without their hawsers ride. — Pope. 

Airs, vernal airs. 
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune 



253 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

The trembling leaves, while universal Pan, 
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, 
Led on the eternal spring. — Milton. 

Beauties, have you seen this toy 

Called Love, a little boy, 

Almost naked, wanton, blind, 

Cruel now, and then as kind ? 

If he be amongst ye, say ; , 

He is Venus' runaway. 

She that will but now discover 
Where the winged wag doth hover, 
Shall to-night receive a kiss. 
How or where herself would wish ; 
But who brings him to his mother 
Shall have that kiss, and another. 

He hath marks about him plenty ; 
You shall know him among twenty. 
All his body is a fire. 
And his breath a flame entire, 
That, being shot like lightning in, 
Wounds the heart, but not the skin. 

At his sight the sun hath turned ; 
Neptune in the waters burned ; 
Hell hath felt a gre.ater heat ; 
Jove himself forsook his seat ; 
From the centre to the sky 
Are his trophies reared high. 

Wings he hath, which though ye clip, 

He will leap from lip to lip, 

Over liver, lights, and heart. 

But not stay in any part ; 

And if chance his arrow misses. 

He will shoot himself in kisses. — Jonson. 

The voice within us is more distinctly audible in the silence of 
the place; and the gentler affections of our nature spring up more 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 253 

freshly in its tranquillity and sunshine — nurtured by the healthy 
principle which we inhale with the pure air, and invigorated by the 
genial influences which descend into the heart from the quiet of the 
sylvan solitude around, and the soft serenity of the sky above. — 
Longfellow. 

In August the grass is still verdant on the hills and in the val- 
leys; the foliage of the trees is as dense as ever and as green; the 
flowers gleam forth in richer abundance along the margins of the 
river, and by the stone walls, and deep among the woods ; the days, 
too, are as fervid now as they were a month ago ; and yet in every 
breath of wind and in every beam of sunshine we hear the whispered 
farewell, and behold the parting smile of a dear friend. There is a 
coolness amid all the heat, a mildness in the blazing noon. Not a 
breeze can stir but it thrills us with the breath of autumn. A pen- 
sive glory is seen in the far, golden beams, among the shadows of the 
trees. The flowers — even the brightest of them, and they are the 
most gorgeous of the year — have this gentle sadness wedded to their 
pomp, and typify the character of a delicious time each within itself. 
— Hawthorne. 

Little attention, however, should be given to this subject, 
except to avoid words difficult of pronunciation, or to re- 
ject unpleasant combinations. Careless repetition, occur- 
ring immediately, or at short intervals, is to be shunned. 
The same note, whether continuously sounded or success- 
ively renewed, is not music. 

Faulty examples are: 

The effect of the concluding verb, jj laced where it is, is most 
striking. — Wliately. 

Great writers may make or may mar a language. — G. Washing- 
ton Moon.^ 

The rules of emphasis come in in i/^terruption. — Alford. 

1 Too mindful of his grammar. Better: 'may either make or mar a lan- 
guage.' The writer's habit of starched verbal criticism threatens to render 
him incapable of producing readable English. 



254 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

In considering the faults which occur in the use of this figure, 
some will be found which are similar to the faults which arise in 
comparison. — DeMille.^ 

The writings of Buchanan, and especially his Scottish history, 
are written with strength, perspicuity, and neatness. — Hallam. 

The academy set up by Cardinal Richelieu, to amuse the wits of 
that age and country, and divert them from raking into his politics 
and ministry, brought this into vogue; and the French wits have, 
for this last age, been wholly turned to the refinement of their style 
and language, and, indeed, with such success that it can hardly be 
equalled, and runs equally through their verse and their prose. — 
Temple. 

He had a very good understanding. He knew well the state of 
affairs both at home and abroad. He had a softness of temper that 

charmed all who came near him He seemed to have no sense 

of religion: both at prayers and at sacrament, he, as it were, took 
care to satisfy people that he was in no sort concerned in that about 
which he was employed. So that he was very far from being a hypo- 
crite He said once to myself he was no atheist, but he could 

not think God could make a man miserable only for taking a little 
pleasure out of the way. — Bishop Burnet.^ 

Particles are the joints or hinges upon which the sentence 
turns; and nicety in their use is one of the most decisive 
marks of skill 'and scholarship. Their omission is gener- 
ally forceful, by admitting the concentration of energy on 
the significant parts, and by the exciting effect of rapid 
utterance : 

Yeni, vidi, vici. — Ccesar. 

One effort, one, to break the circling host; 

They /orm, unite, charge, waver, — all is lost. — Byron. 

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, logs, dens, and shades of death, 

A universe of death. — 3Iilton. 

1 Elewents of Rhetoric. 2 On the character of Charles II. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 255 

And of tlieir wonted vigor left them drained. 
Exhausted, spiritless, afflicted, fallen. — Ibid. 

Be ye kindly affectionate one to another, with brotherly love, in 
honor preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in 
spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, 
continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessities of the 
saints, given to hospitality. — St. Paul. 

On the other hand, if it is desired that the mind should 
dwell, connectives may be used to an unusual degree. 
Observe how the several items are separated and distin- 
guished, and the attention detained: 

Love was not in their looks, either to God 

Or to each other, but apparent guilt, 

Arid shame, a7id perturbation, and despair. 

Anger, a7id obstinacy, and hate, aiid guile. — Milton. 

I am persuaded that neither death, no?- life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers; nor things present, nor things to come, 
nor height, nor depth, 7ior any other creature shall be able to separ- 
ate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. — 
St. Paul. 

The animation of the one method, and the gravity of the 
other, are seen together here: 

So eagerly the fiend 
O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, 
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. — Milton. 

Repetition, whether of significant or of non-significant 
words, may be greatly conducive to energy 

By thine agony and bloody sweat; hy thy cross and passion; by 
thy precious death and burial; by thy glorious resurrection and 
ascension ; and by the coming of the Holy Ghost. — Church Litany. 

The sun shone Bora. The birds sang Dora. The flowers smiled 
Dora. I could see and hear notliinc: but Dora ; and soon I found 



256 ESSENTIALS OF EI!^GLISH. 

Dora herself, singing, and playing on that glorified guitar. — 
Dickens. 

Thus to the question with which we set out — What knowledge 
is of most worth? — the uniform reply is — Science. This is the 
verdict on all the counts. For direct self-preservation, or the main- 
tenance of life and health, the all-important knowledge is — Science. 
For that indirect self-preservation which we call gaining a livelihood, 
the knowledge of greatest value is — Science. For the due discharge 
of parental functions, the proper guidance is to be found only in — 
Science. For that interpretation of national life, past and present, 
without which the citizen cannot rightly regulate his conduct, the 
indispensable key is — Science. Alike for the most perfect pro- 
duction and highest enjoyment of art in all its forms, the needful 
preparation is — Science. And for the purposes of discipline — 
intellectual, moral, religious — the most efficient study is, once more, 
— Science. — Spe7icer. 

"Variety. — Note, in the preceding passage, that, while 
the constant reiteration of the predicate is highly im- 
pressive, a like sameness in the subject would be insuffer- 
ably monotonous. Hence the language is most happily 
varied, — ' uniform reply,' * all-important knowledge,' 
* knowledge of greatest value,' 'proper guidance,' 'indis- 
pensable key,' 'needful preparation,' 'most efficient study.' 
In the productions of art, as in those of nature, variety is 
essential to beauty. In composition it is one of the 
sources of that imperial excellence of style which confers 
immortality. It may be instructive, as well as interesting, 
to observe the mode in which different writers have ex- 
pressed the same thing, each endeavoring to vary more or 
less the dress of the sentiment or image which he borrows: 

There is no greater pain than in sorrow to recall a happy time. — 
Dante. 
Reproduced in Locksley Hall : 

A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. 

— Tennyson. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 257 

Again : 

Ye may no see, for peeping flowers the grasse. — Peele. 
Transferred to the Tioo Voices : 

You scarce could see the grass for flowers. — Tennyson. 
To these examples may be added the following without 
comment, the first of a group being the real or supposed 
original: 

More sweet than a gentle southwest wind, which comes creeping 
over flowery fields and shadowed waters in the extreme heat of sum- 
mer. — Sidney. 

Oh! it came o'er my ear like the sweet south. 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing, and giving odor. — Shakespeare. 

And sweeter than a gentle southwest wind, 

O'er willowy meads and shadowed waters creeping, 

And Ceres' golden fields. — Coleridge. 

Breathing all gently o'er his cheek and mouth 
As o'er a bed of violets the sweet south. — Byron. 

And justify the ways of God to man. — Milton. 

And vindicate the ways of God to man. — Pope. 

guam confempta res est homo, nisi super humana se erexerit! — 
Seneca. 

Unless above himself he ca!i 

Erect himself, how poor a thing is man. — Daniel. 

Man to himself 
Is a large prospect, raised above the level 
Of his own creeping thoughts. — Denham. 
A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism, but depth 
in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion. — Bacon. 
A little learning is a dangerous thing ; 
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. — Pope. 
Man wants but little here below, 
Nor wants that little long. — Goldsmith. 
17 



258 ESSEi^TIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Man wants but little, nor that little long. — Young. 

Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the 
grave. We lament the loss of our parents; how soon shall our sons 
bewail us? — Bishop Hall. 

Our birth is nothing but our death begun, 
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb ; 
Lamented, or lamenting, all one lot. — Young. 

As thick as motes in the sunne beams. — Chaucer. 

As thick as idle motes in sunny ray. — Thomson. 

As thick and numberless 

As the gay motes that people the sunbeams. — Milton. 

Like angels' visits, short and bright. — Norris of Bemerton. 

Its visits. 
Like those of angels, short and far between. — Blair. 

Like angels' visits, few and far between. — Camphell. 

The motion of the public mind resembles that of the sea 

A person who looked on the waters only for a moment might fancy 

that they were retiring But when he keeps his eye on them 

for a quarter of an hour, and sees one sea mark disappear after an- 
other, it is impossible for him to doubt of the general direction in 
which the ocean is moved. — Macaulay. 

Popery cannot come back any more than Paganism can — which 
also still lingers in some countries. But indeed it is with these 
things as with the ebbing of the sea : You look at the waves oscil- 
lating hither, thither, on the beach; for minutes you cannot tell how 
it is going. Look in half an hour where it is : look in half a century 
where your Popehood is! — CoMyle. 

Here is a single illustration of charming variety in the 
same writer: 

The eye of day hath oped its lid. — Shakespeare. 

Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund Day 
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. — Hid. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 259 

But look, the morn in russet mantle clad 

Walks o'er the clew of yon high, eastern hill. — Ibid. 

See how the morning opes her golden gates, 

And takes her farewell of the glorious Sun! — Ihid. 

Lo ! in the orient when the gracious Light 
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye 
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight. — Ibid. 

Mannerism. — By this is meant some marked pecul- 
iarity in the method of composition, or the excessive use of 
favorite forms: as Macaulay's 'Every schoolboy knows,' 
Alison's ' however ' and ' of all others,' Carlyle's * etern- 
ities ' and ' infinities,' Emerson's undignified ' 'tis,' ' 'twas,' 
* there's.' We spend an hour in a cursory inspection of 
the Essays of the latter, then, with the following result, 
desist, because space and patience are exhausted: 

^Tis a great difference. 
^Tis the same with our idolatries. 
'Tis the beginning of civility. 
' Tis these which the lover loves. 
.^Tis the trick of Nature thus to degrade to-day. 
'7Ys not Proclus, Init a piece of nature I explore. 
There's a revenge for this inhumanity. 
'Tis all toy figures in a toy house. 
'2Ys hard to find the right Ilomer. 
'Tis near that, .... but 'tis near Albany. 
There's too much sky, too raucli out-doors. 
'Tis inevitable to name particulars of virtue. 
'Tis curious that we only believe as deep as we live. 
'Tis the best use of fate to teach a fatal courage. 
'Tis well to know that there is method in it. 



260 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

'Tis better for the head; His better for the heart. 

'Tis a superstition to insist on a special diet. 

^Tis a question of stomach and constitution. 

' Tis the city of Lacedaemon ; His a stack of bayonets. 

^Tis said, that views of nature held by any people determine all 
their institutions. 

^Tis a Butch proverb, that paint costs nothing. 

^Tis the majesty into which we have suddenly mounted. 

^Tis like the cement which the peddler sells at the door. 

We talk much of utilities, butr His our manners that associate us. 

^Tis said, London and New York take the nonsense out of a 
man. 

^Tis a disease that, like influenza, falls on all constitutions. 
^Twas dangerous, but he thought they would soon touch bottom. 

'Tis as easy to twist iron anchors and braid cannons, as to braid 
straw. 

'Tis very certain that each man carries in his eye the exact indi- 
cation of his rank in the scale of men. 

'Tis a law of botany, that in plants the same virtue follows the 
same forms. 

'Tis fine for us to point at one or another madman as if there 
were any exempts. 

'Tis the charm of practical men, that outside of their practicality 
are a certain poetry and play. 

' Tis incident to scholars, that each of them fancies he is point- 
edly odious in his community. 

' Tis a cruel price we pay for certain fancy goods called fine arts 
and philosophy. 

'Tis inhuman to want faith in the power of education, since to 
meliorate is the law of nature. 

'Tis odd that our people sliould have — not water on the brain, — 
but a little gas there. 



THE SENTEI^CE — DICTION. 261 

'Tis so manifest that there is no moral deformity but is a good 
passion out of place. 

'Tis the same to him who wears a shoe, as if the whole earth 
were covered with leather. 

'2¥s not very rare, the coincidence of sharp private and political 
practice, with public spirit, and good neighborhood. 

'Tis not a question whether there are offences of which the law 
takes cognizance, but whether there are offences of which the law 
does not take cognizance. 

^Tis a good rule in every journey to provide some piece of liberal 
study to rescue the hours which bad weather, bad company, and 
taverns steal from the best economist. 

They glanced intelligently at each other, but Hwas little they 
could do for one another; 'twas much if each could keep afloat 
alone. 

^Tis the adjustment of the size and of the joining of the sockets 
of the skeleton, that gives grace of outline and the finer grace of 
movement. 

'TVs very certain that Plato, .... Newton, Milton, Words- 
worth, did not live in a crowd, but descended into it from time to 
time as benefactors. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Write sentences containing shorter or more familiar expres- 
sions for the following: 

Individual, residence, circumspect, simultaneously, tortuous, 
termination, occult, extinguish, transform, accomplish, instruct, 
preclude, articulate, felicity, exacerbated, antagonist, cognize, pro- 
genitor, audacious, inaugurate, minatory, approximate, indoctrin- 
ate, commence, penetrate. 

2. Express in simpler terms : 

Such representations are artistically as much beneath contempt 
as morally suggestive of compassion for the performers, not to speak 
of some indignation that educated and responsible people should 
sanction such exhibitions. — London Times. 



262 ESSENTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

The physical universe, within certain limits, abounds in devia- 
tions from original types, and in differences between contagious 
objects. The human mind is so constituted as to applaud when see- 
ing these deviations and differences. Monotony tires in proportion 
to intellectual development. There is to be inferred, therefore, in 
matter and mind, a law which may be denominated that of Variation 
and Contrast. — Toumsend.^ 

Professions lavislily effused and parsimoniously verified are alike 
inconsistent with the precepts of innate rectitude, and the practice 
of internal policy; let it not then be conjectured, that because we 

are unassuming, we are imbecile A swelling opening is too 

often succeeded by an insignificant conclusion. Parturient mount- 
ains have had ere now muscipular abortions. — Rejected Addresses. 

3. Find synonymes for: 

Complete, courage, pious, clear, reason, tender, aid, pardon, 
famous, needless, pain, adversity, funny, examine, anger, useful, 
hasty, plan, shy, harmless, too, allay. 

4. Discriminate, and write or find sentences in illustration : 

Comprehend, understand, apprehend; vocation, avocation; dis- 
cover, reveal, uncover, invent; crime, fault, vice, immorality, sin; 
contemptuous, contemptible ; falsity, falsehood ; negligence, neglect ; 
avow, acknowledge, confess; with, by; sufficient, enough; conceal, 
disguise, dissemble, hide, secrete; convince, persuade; bent, bias, 
inclination, prepossession ; hope, expect ; cliaracter, reputation ; apt, 
liable; relations, relatives; surprise, astonishment, wonder; have, 
possess; fancy, imagination; want, wish, desire; seem, appear. 

5. Illustrate correct use : 

Predicate, predict, except, unless, expect, suspect, respectively, 
aggravate, irritate, nice, on, upon, who, which, this, these, that, 
those, deist, atheist, theology, religion, ethics, aesthetics, safe, 
secure, learn, teach, sensuous, sensual, custom, habit, emigrate, im- 
migrate, answer, reply. 

1 The Art of Speech. 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION". 263 

6. Change so as to conform to present usage : 

Than the kyng demanded me whereof it treated, and I shewed 
hym how it treated matters of loue ; whereof the kyng was ghidde. 
— Froissart. 

Men shiilde prayen to God ordinately, discretely, and devoutly; 
and always a man shal put his will to be subgette to the will of God. 
— Chaucer. 

If a yonge jentleman will venture him selfe into the companie of 
ruffians, it is over great a jeopardie, lest their facions, maners, 
thoughts, taulkc, and dedes will very sone be over like. — Ascham. 

Therefore, me thinketh this present book is right necessary often 
to be read; for in all ye find the most gracious, knightly, and vir- 
tuous war of the most noble knights of the world, whereby they got 
praising continually. — Malory. 

An argument, if he be ful and foormal, which is clepid a sillo- 
gisme, is made of twey proposiciouns dryuing out of hem and by 
strengthe of hem the thridde proposicioun. — Pecock. 

If a man write little, he had need have a great memory ; if he 
confer little, he had need have a present wit ; and if he read little, 
he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. 
— Bacon. 

7. Criticise and amend : 
Congratulate to themselves. — Dry den. 

That variety of factions into which we are still engaged. — 
Swift. 

The sellers of the newest patterns at present give extreme good 
bargains. — Goldsmith. 

Nevertheless, it is open, I expect, to serious question. — Ruskin. 

The protest laid quietly on the table. — Irving. 

Each occupied their several premises, and farmed their own 
land. — Jefferson. 

If we examine with minuteness the falling snow, we will observe 
that each flake consists of a number of exceedingly delicate particles 
of ice. — E. Sargent. 



264 ESSENTIALS OF E2s"GLISH. 

Apostrophe is an address to the absent or dead, as though really 
present. — De Milled 

Vision is the narration of past or absent scenes as though actu- 
ally occurring before us. — Ibid. 

"When rules are followed too exclusively, the young writer is apt 
to become a mere slave to them, and but rarely attains to any kind 
of excellence. — Ihid. 

This English allows of this to a greater extent than other lan- 
guages, none of which admit of the accent bemg pushed back farther 
than the antepenult. — Ibid. 

Here awe is associated with terror, and the human mind shrinks 
back from its own fancies. — Ibid. 

* Egotistic ' is applied to style in which the writer is perpetually 
thrusting forward his own personality. — Ibid. 

The Irish are perpetually using * shall' for 'will.' — MatTieivs. 

Were Aristotle or Plato to come among us, they would find no 
contrast more complete than between the workshops of their Athens 
and those of New York. — Bancroft. 

He looked as though he could eat up an ox, and pick his teeth 
with the horns. — Irving. 

Bruce spoke of himself as being neither Scottish or English, but 
Norman, barons. — Scott. 

The loafer seems to be created for no other purpose but to keep 
up the ancient and honorable order of idleness. — Irving. 

Day after day have passed, and there are no signs of its discon- 
tinuance. — Bryant. 

Its rector is, I judge, a considerable able and energetic man. — 
ibid. 

Your climate is trying, but I have already began to take a sea- 
soning. — Ibid. 

During the past week, two well known authoresses, one of them 
a poetess, have died. — Ibid. 

1 Elements of Rhetoric 



THE SENTENCE — DICTION. 265 

The vast extent of the mountain region took nie with surprise 
and astonishment. — Ihid. 

If the new tariff obliges them to sell it for considerable less, 
they will still make money. — Ihid. 

The tendency to endow inanimate things with the properties of 
life is universal, and is part of human nature, being found among 
savages as well as among the civilized, and in all races and ages and 
classes. — De Milled 

The only danger that attends the multiplicity of publications is 
that some of them may be calculated to injure rather than benefit 
society. — Goldsm ith. 

The authority of Addison in matters of grammar; of Bentley, 
who never made the English grammar his study ; of Bolingbroke, 
Pope, and others, are nothing. — Harrison. 

The child died from the sequelae of the scarlet fever. — Spencer. 

Perhaps some people are quite indifferent whether or no it is 
said that they sip their coffee out of a jar. — R. G. White. 

A fault inevitable by literary ladies. — Hawthorne. 

The greatest masters of critical learning differ among one an- 
other. — Addison. 

The rains rendered the roads impracticable. — Sonthey. 

She was consumedly good-looking. — Willis. 

But virtue, if nothing more, and no sooner, is its own reward ; 
and in time to save its bacon. — Ihid. 

It is to this last new feature in the supposed Game Laws to 
which we intend to confine our notice. — Sidney Smith. 

Alphonsus ordered a great fire to be prepared, into which, after 
his majesty and the public had joined in prayer for heavenly assist- 
ance in this ordeal, both the rivals were thrown into the flames. — 
D'lsraeli. 

The complication of the old laws of France had given rise to a 
chaos of confusion. — Alison. 

But what will fame be to an ephemerae who no longer exists. — 
Mrs. Sigourney. 

1 Elements of Rhetoric. 



2QQ ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

A compulsory regulation which compelled the shopkeepers to 
accept of the depreciated French assignats. — Alison. 

The secret spring of all his actions was a deep and manly feel- 
ing of piety which pervaded all his actions. — Ibid., 

Failures to any great extent in the American provinces, never 
fail to produce stagnation and distress. — Ibid. 

The government were extremely disconcerted by this acquittal, 
the more especially as the evidence, especially against the military, 
was so decisive. — Ibid. 

Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others, and 
think that their reputation obscures them, and their commendable 
qualities stand in their light ; and therefore they do what they can 
to cast a cloud over them, that the bright shining of their virtues 
may not obscure them. — Tillotson. 

When do we ever find a well educated Englishman or French- 
man embarrassed by an ignorance of the grammar of their respec- 
tive languages? They first learn it practically, and unerringly, and 
then, if they choose to look back, and smile at the idea of having 
proceeded by a number of rules, without knowing one of them by 
heart, or being conscious that they had any rule at all, this is a 
philosophical amusement, but who ever thinks of learning the gram- 
mar of their own tongue before they are very good grammarians? — 
Sidney Smith. 

It is true he was an inveterate reader, amorously inclined toward 
vellum tomes and illuminated parchments, but he did not covet 
them, like some collectors, for the mere pridb of possessing them; 
but gloried in feasting on their intellectual cnarms and delectable 
wisdom, and sought in their attractive pages tx. "> means of becoming 
a better Christian and a wiser man. But he was so excessively fond 
of books, and became so deeply engrossed with his book-collecting 
pursuits, that it is said some of the monks shewed a little dissatis- 
faction at his consequent neglect of the affairs of the monastery ; but 
these are faults I cannot find the heart to blame him for, but am 
inclined to consider his conduct fully redeemed by the valuable 
encouragement he gave to literature and learning. — Bunyan. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 

A mote that is in itself invii?ible, shall darken the august facultj' of sight in 
a human eye,— the heavens shall be hid bj'-a wretched atom that dares not show 
itself,— and the station of a syllable shall cloud the judgment of a council.— 
De Quincey. 

WE have seen that English relies only in a very 
slight degree on form; and that in this respect it 
contrasts widely with other languages which are inflected. 
The following, for further illustration, is from Horace; 

Ego nee studium sine divite vena, 
Nee rude quid possit video ingenium; alterius sic 
Altera poscit opem res, et conjurat amice. 

Rendered in the order of the words, this sentence reads: 

I neither study without rich vein, ' 

Nor rude what can see talent ; other's so 
Each demands help thing, and conspires kindly. 

A wide severance of parts grammatically related is here 
admissible, because the words are grammatically ticketed; 
but the connection which Latin thus indicates by termina- 
tions, English can show only by position: 

I see neither what^ study, without a rich vein, nor what rude 
talent can [avail]; each thing so demands the other's help, and 
kindly conspires [with it]. 

To the one tongue, comparatively speaking, order was 
nothing, form everything; to the other, on the contrary, 
form is little, order much. 

We are now to enunciate some leading principles of 

267 



268 ESSEI^TIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

arrangement, to point out some recurring causes of ob- 
scurity, and to suggest definite remedies. 

1. The idiom of the language requires, in general, the 
direct and habitual order, which is, first, the subject, then 
the copula or predicate verb, lastly the thing asserted, or 
object : 

Every man's task is his life-preserver. — Emerson. 

Each human soul is the first-created inhabitant of its own Eden. 
— Hawthorne. 

The whole period of youth is one essentially of formation, edifi- 
cation, instruction. — RusMn. 

Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, — any 
meanness or sensuality to imbrute them. — Thoreau. 

Ariosto tells a pretty story of a fairy, who, by some mysterious 
law of her nature, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in 
the form of a foul and poisonous snake. Those who injured her 
during the period of her disguise were forever excluded from par- 
ticipation in the blessings which she bestowed. But to those who, 
in spite of her loathsome aspect, pitied and protected her, she after- 
ward revealed herself in the beautiful and celestial form which was 
natural to her, accompanied their steps, granted all their wishes, 
filled their houses with wealth, made them happy in love and victo- 
rious in war.^ — Macaulay. 

This should have been a noble creature ; he 
Hath all the energy which would have made 
A goodly frame of glorious elements, 
Had they been wisely mingled. — Byron. 

The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one. 
May hope to achieve it before life be done; 
But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes. 
Only reaps, from the hopes which around him he sows, 
A harvest of barren regrets. — Rohert Lytton. 

1 A slight transposition in the last sentence— 'to those who,' etc., adverbial 
modifier of 'revealed.' 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 269 

We, staggered 'neath our burden as mere men, 

Being called to stand up straight as demigods, 

Support the intolerable strain and stress 

Of the universal, and send clearly up 

With voices broken by the human sob, 

Our poems to find rhymes among the stars. — 3Irs. Browning. 

2. Considerations of energy, liveliness, or beauty, may 
often, however, require the transposed or inverted order: 
How wonderful is death ! — Shelley. 

A little while and we die; shall life not thrive as it may f 

For no man under the sky lives twice, outliving his day. 

And grief is a grievous thing, and a man hath enough of his tears; 

Why should he labor, and bring fresh grief to blacken his years 9 

— Swinburne. 
Sky, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye 
With night, and clouds, and thunder, and a soul, 
To make these felt and feelir^, well may be 
Things that have made me watchful ; the far roll 
Of your departing voices is the knoll 
Of what in me is sleepless, — if I rest. 
But ivhere of ye, tempests ! is the goal f 
Are ye like those ivithin the human breast f 
Or do yefirid at length, like eagles, some high nest ? — Byron. 

But when shall we be stronger ? Will it be the next week or 
the next year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when 
a British guard shall be stationed in every house? .... Is life 
so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery? — Patrick Henry. 

What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite 
in faculties ! in action, how like an angel ! in apprehension, how 
like a god ! —Shakespeare. 

People drive out from town to breathe, and to be happy. Most 
of them have flowers in their hands; bunches of apple-blossoms, and, 
still oftencr, lilacs. Ye denizens of the crowded city, how pleasant 
to you is the change from the sultry streets to the open field, fra- 



270 ESSEisTIALS OF e:n'glish. 

grant with clover-blossoms ! how pleasant the fresh, breezy country 
air, clashed with brine from the meadows ! how pleasant, above all, 
the flowers — the manifold beautiful flowers ! — Longfellow. 

The interrogative and exclamatory forms are, in them- 
selves, departures from the prevailing arrangement; but 
in all these specimens the transposition is a species of 
rhetorical license. The writer or speaker desiring to vary 
his manner or to express his thought more strongly, ex- 
changes the calm for the passionate type of sentence; or 
he prefers to put in the form of a question, what he 
neither doubts nor expects to be answered. This breaks 
up routine, arrests the attention as if to demand a reply, 
and therefore is frequently resorted to in oratory, as well 
as in all discourse where vivacity or force is sought.^ 
Again, in Paradise Lost : 

On a sudden, open fly 

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, 

Th' infernal doors. 

This is far more effective than would have been the syn- 
tactical or grammatical sequence. So in King JLear : 

Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never 
Remember to have heard. 

Here the object, since it is first and uppermost in the 
mind, naturally takes precedence of the subject in utter- 
ance. That succession alone is truly natural which corre- 
sponds to the succession of thought. ' Nearest the heart, 
nearest the mouth.' It is on this principle that daily con- 
versation supplies numerous instances of so-called inversion. 
But prose, and especially poetry, may compass a thousand 
beauties in this way that must else be relinquished: 

1 See, for illustration, ttie sermons of Beecher. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 271 

Flashed all their sabres bare. — Tennyson. 
Nor Eve to iterate 

Her former trespass feared. — Milto7i. 

The night-winds sigh, the breakers loar, 

And shrieks the wild sea-mew. — Byron. 

Now is the winter of our discontent, 

Made glorious summer by this sun of- York. — Shakespeare. 

Deep in the shady sadness of a vale 

Far sunken from the healthy breath of .niorn, 

Far from the fiery noon, and eve's one star, 

Sat gray-hair'd Saturn, quiet as a stone.— ^ea^s. 
Never was such a sense of the real before or since. — Taine. 
Half-way down a by-street of one of our New England towns, 
stands a rusty, wooden house, with seven acutely-peaked gables, 
facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered 
chimney in the midst. — Haivthorne. 

About fourscore years ago, there used to be seen sauntering on 
the terraces of Sans Souci, for a short time in the afternoon, — or 
you might have met him elsewhere at an earlier hour, riding or 
driving in a rapid business manner on the open roads .... a 
highly interesting lean little old man, of alert though slightly stoop- 
ing figure; whose name among strangers was King Friedrich the 
Second, or Frederick the Great, of Prussia. — Carlyle. 

3. Interest may often be increased by a suspension of 
meaning till the end. The preceding sentences from 
Keats and Carlyle are admirable cases in point. In each, 
the principal idea is withheld till it possesses an inviting- 
warmth of detail, and the reader's curiosity or sympathy 
is excited. It was from a deep knowledge of the laws of 
thought, that Milton, in announcing the argument of his 
epic, enumerated the successive scenes of the great drama 
before he introduced the governing verb: 

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 
Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste 



272 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Brought death into the world, and all our woe, 
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man 
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat. 
Sing, Heavenly Muse. 

Such sentences are called periodic. The limitation of 
their proper use is that the modifying- expressions shall be 
so few or so well knit as to be easily understood. Thus: 

As the troubled noise of the ocean when roll the waves on high ; 
as the last peal of the thunder of heaven, — such is the noise of the 
battle. — Macpherson. 

The laugh of mirth which vibrates through the heart ; the tears 
which freshen the dry wastes within ; the music which brings child- 
hood back ; the prayer which calls the future near ; the doubt which 
makes us meditate; the death which startles us with mystery; the 
hardships which force us to struggle; the anxiety which ends in 
trust, — these are the true nourishment of our being. — Martineau. 

Suspense is gained by placing a conditional clause before 
its consequent, by placing appositives and participles 
before the words they qualify, and by using suspensive 
conjunctions — 'not only,' 'either,' 'partly,' 'on the one 
hand,' etc., which prepare the reader for an alternative: 

If ever you have looked on better days. 

If ever been where bells have knolled to church, 

If ever sat at any good man's feast. 

If ever from your eyelids wiped a tear, 

And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied. 

Let gentleness my strong enforcement be. — Shakespeare. 

Either the words were not idiomatic, or were not intelligible. — 
Trench. 

As a rhetorician, he has had the art of persuading when he 
seconded desire ; as a reasoner, he has convinced those who had no 
doubt before; as a moralist, he has taught that virtue may disgrace; 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 273 

and as a patriot, he has gratified the mean by insults on the high : 
Finding sedition ascendant, he has been able to advance it ; finding 
the nation combustible, he has been able to inflame it. —Johnsoii. 

4. Suspense must not be excessive. If the enumera- 
tion of items is too extended, either the reader becomes 
impatient to learn the particular or complementary idea, 
or he is wearied with the effort to hold so great a diversity 
in memory. The following sentence is offensive, not more 
from the number of its elements than from the clumsy, 
slipshod manner in which these are strung together: 

The territory conferred on the patentees in absolute property, 
with unlimited jurisdiction, the sole powers of legislation, the ap- 
pointment of all officers and forms of government, extended in 
breadth from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of north lati- 
tude, and in length from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; that is to say, 
nearly all the inhabited British possessions to the north of the 
United States, all New England, New York, half of New Jersey, 
very nearly all of Pennsylvania, and the whole of the country to 
the west of these states, comprising, and at the same time believed 
to comprise, much more than a million of square miles, and capable 
of sustaining far more than two hundred millions of inhabitants, 
were by a single signature of King James, given to a corporation 
within them, composed of about forty individuals. — Bancroft. 

Two sentences, if not three, should have been made, 
instead of one. Better in construction, though objection- 
able in length, is the following: 

Our immense extent of fertile territory opening an inexhaustible 
field for successful enterprise, thus assuring to industry a certain 
reward for its labors, and preserving the lands for centuries to come 
from the manifold evils of an overcrowded, and consequently de- 
graded population; our magnificent system of federated republics, 
carrying out and applying the principles of representative democracy 
to an extent never hoped or imagined in the boldest theories of the 
old speculative republican philosophers, the Harringtons, Sydneys, 
18 



274 ESSENTIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

and Lockes of former times; the reaction of our political sys- 
tem upon our social and domestic concerns, bringing the influence 
of popular feeling and public opinion to bear upon all the affairs 
of life in a degree hitherto wholly unprecedented; the uncon- 
strained range of freedom of opinion, of speech, and of the press, 
and the habitual and daring exercise of that liberty upon the 
highest subjects; the absence of all serious inequality of fortune 
and rank in the condition of our citizens ; our divisions into innum- 
erable religious sects, and the consequent coexistence, never before 
regarded as possible, of intense religious zeal with a degree of tolera- 
tion in feeling and perfect equality of rights ; our intimate connec- 
tion with that elder world beyond the Atlantic, communicating to 
us, through the press and emigration, much of good and much of 
evil not our own, high science, refined art, and the best knowledge 
of old experience, as well as prejudices and luxuries, vices and 
crimes, such as could not have been expected to spring up in our 
soil for ages ; all these, combined with numerous other peculiarities 
in the institutions, and in the moral, civil and social condition of 
the American people, have given to our society, through all its rela- 
tions, a character exclusively its own. — Choate. 

5. If a long periodic construction is faulty, a long 
unperiodic one is even more so: 

The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men, 
which the monkey observing, and finding himself almost encom- 
passed, and not being able to make speed enough with his three 
legs, let me drop on a ridge tile, and made his escape. — Swift. 

Last year a paper was brought here from England called a dia- 
logue between the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Higgins, 
which we ordered to be burned by the common hangman as it well 
deserved, though we have no more to do with his Grace of Canter- 
bury than you have with the Archbishop of Dublin, whom you 
tamely suffer to be abused openly and by name by that paltry scoun- 
drel of an observator : and lately upon an affair wherein he had no 
concern, I mean the business of the missionary of Drogheda, wherein 
our excellent prelate was engaged and did nothing but according to 
law and discretion. — Ibid. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 275 

Sentences like these, which may be brought to a gram- 
matical close at one or more points before the end, are 
said to be loose. They become faulty only when, as here, 
they either are carried too far, or are made to include 
heterogeneous ideas. The remedy is to break them up, 
or to recast and throw them into periods. The danger is 
that of indulging in this mode of expression through 
mere carelessness. A draggling, disconnected sentence is 
a common fault in the young and inexperienced, who, 
therefore, should almost uniformly aim to make their sen- 
tences periodic. 

6. The several kinds of sentences — long and short, 
periodic and loose — should be properly intermixed. A 
long sentence, by detaining the attention, may impress 
more strongly, or, by presenting the thought as a whole, 
may assist the memory; but, even if periodic, it may be 
difficult to follow, and, if loose, it may provoke impa- 
tience. A short sentence, though clear, may not be easy 
to connect with the context. An unbroken succession of 
the one, fatigues; of the other, distracts. The skilful 
writer alternates the two. Thus: 

An acre in Middlesex is worth a principality in Utopia. The 
smallest actual good is better than the most magnificent promises of 
impossibilities. The wise man of the Stoics would, no doubt, be 
a grander object than a steam engine. But there are steam engines, 
and the wise man of the Stoics is yet to be born. A philosophy 
which should enable a inan to feel perfectly happy while in agonies 
of pain, may be better than a philosophy which assuages pain. But 
we know that there are remedies which will assuage pain; and we 
know that the ancient sages liked the toothache just as little ^s their 
neighbors. — Macaulay. 

Beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in the number- 
less flowers of the spring. It v/aves in the branches of the trees and 



276 ESSENTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and 
sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and the precious stone. 
And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the 
clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun, all overflow 
with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are 
alive to it, cannot lift up their eyes without feeling themselves 
encompassed with it on every side. — Channing, 

It may be said, on the whole, that, whereas long sentences 
were formerly the fashion, short, rounded ones are now the 
prevailing type. The student would find it instructive and 
entertaining to compare, in this respect, Ruskin or Carlyle 
with Emerson, and any of these with Hooker or Milton. 
Jeremy Taylor's are among the best models of long sen- 
tences that are both clear and logical. 

7. Clearness and force may be gained by antithesis ^ 
— the collocation of two objects together that differ in at 
least one particular, and agree in others. The relative 
character of the objects, whether material or mental, is 
much more vividly impressed by a simultaneous compar- 
ison and contrast, just as a white object appears whiter 
and a black one blacker if the white and the black are 
placed side by side: 

Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. — Miltofi. 

Man! 
Thou pendulum betwixt a smile and tear. — Byron. 

Life has no value, as an end, but means; 

An end deplorable ! a means divine ! 

When 'tis our all, 'tis nothing ; worse than naught ; 

A nest of pains; when held as nothing, much. — Young. 

Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, 
We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much ; 

1 From the Gi'eek dvTi, against, and Tidrnjn, to place. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 277 

Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind. 
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. 

— Goldsmith. 
Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and 
heart to this vote. — Webster. 

No, Orlando; men are April when they woo; December when 
they are wed ; and maids are May while they are maids, but the sky 
changes when they are wives. — Shakespeare. 

We tried a stamp duty — a duty so light as hardly to be percep- 
tible — on the fierce breed of the old Puritans, and we lost an empire. 
— Macaulay. 

8. A pleasing effect is produced by similarity of form 
m successive clauses, especially when they are contrasted. 
Sentences so constructed are said to be balanced. 

The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked 
shall rot. — BiMe. 

But, my lord, you may quit the field of business, though not the 
field of danger ; and, though yon cannot be safe, you may cease to be 
ridiculous. — Junius. 

The man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain 
force on the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow 
warmer among the ruins of Ionia. — Johnson. 

Homer was the greater genius; Virgil, the better artist: in the 
one we most admire the man ; in the other, the work. Homer 
hurries us with a commanding impetuosity; Virgil leads us with an 
attractive majesty. Homer scattefs with a generous profusion; 
Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence. — Pope. 

9. A peculiar energy is commanded by a gradual 
ascent of thought and expression. This is called climax:^ 

Are they Plebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. 
Are they ministers of Christ? I am more. — Paul. 

The stream of literature has swollen into a torrent — augmented 
into a river — expanded into a sea. — Irving. 

1 Greek K\iiJ.a$, a ladder, or staircase. 



278 ESSENTIALS OF EKGLISH. 

In a central region, midway on the continent, though somewhat 
nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic Ocean, at an elevation of nearly 
seven thousand five hundred feet, lies the remarkable valley of 
Mexico, encircled by a colossal rampart of the hardest rocks, and 
forming a circumference of about sixty-seven leagues, with a sky of 
the deepest blue, a serene atmosphere, and a magnificent landscape. 
— Prescott. 

That order of woj-ds, therefore, will always be most 
agreeable, where, without obscuring the sense, the most 
important ideas, the longest members, and the most 
sonorous words bring up the rear. Observe the cadence 
at the close of this: 

As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage about the 
oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant 
is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing ten- 
drils, and bind up its shattered boughs ; so is it beautifully ordained 
by Providence, that woman, who is the mere dependant and orna- 
ment of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace 
when smitten with sudden calamity; winding herself into the 
rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping 
head, and binding up the broken heart. — Irving. 

Mark the order of succession in the following peroration, 
said by its author to have been composed twenty times 
over: 

My lords, I pray you to pause. I do earnestly beseech you to 
take heed ! You are standing upon tli^ brink of a precipice — 
then beware ! It will go forth your judgment, if sentence shall go 
against the queen. But it will be the only judgment you ever pro- 
nounced which, instead of reaching its object, will return and bound 
back upon those who give it. Save the country, my lords, from the 
horrors of this catastrophe. Save yourselves from this peril ; rescue 
that country, of which you are the ornaments, but in which you 
can flourish no longer when severed from the people, than the blos- 
som when cut off from the roots and the stem of the tree. Save 
that country, that you may continue to adorn it. Save the Crown 



THE SEKTEKCE — ORDER. 279 

which is in jeopardy — the Aristocracy, which is shaken. Save the 
Altar, which must stagger with the blow that rends its kindred 
throne ! You have said, my lords, you have willed — the Church 
and the king have willed — that the queen should be deprived of its 
solemn service. She has, instead of that solemnity, the heartfelt 
prayers of the people. She wants no prayers of mine. But I do 
here pour forth my humble supplications at the Throne of Mercy, 
that that mercy may be poured down upon the people in a larger 
measure than the merits of its rulers may deserve, and that your 
hearts may be turned to justice. — Brougham. 

A departure from the order of ascending strength is called 
an anti-clhnax. 

And herein lies the great miracle of speech, the strongest proof 
of its living, organic — I had almost said divine — power, that even 
as the processes of vegetable life build up, assimilate, vivify, and 
transform into self sustaining, growing, and fruitful forms the dead 
material of mechanical nature, so language, by the mere collocation 
and ordonnance of inexpressive articulate sounds, can inform them 
with the spiritual philosophy of the Pauline epistles, the living 
thunder of a Demosthenes, or the material picturesqueness of a 
Russell. — Marsh. 

Anti-climax, however, may be effective as a weapon of 
irony. 

Die, and endow a college or a cat. — Pope. 

Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule. 
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool. — Ibid. 

When George the Fourth was still reigning over the privacies of 
Windsor, when the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister, and 
Mr. Vincy was mayor of the old corporation in Middleraarch. — 
George Eliot. 

10. In general, it is a violation of climax and suspense 
to close a sentence with an insignificant term, or with a 
short and unemphatic expression : 

Men of the best sense have been touched, more or less, with 



280 ESSENTIALS OP EN"GLISH. 

these groundless horrors and presages of futurity, upon surveying 
the most indifferent works of nature. — Spectator. 

The Emperor was so intent on the establishment of his absolute 
power in Hungary, that he exposed the empire doubly to desolation 
and ruin for the sake of it. — Bolingh^oke. 

It is a fundamental principle in logic, that the power of forming 
classes is unlimited, as long as there is any (even the smallest) dis- 
tinction to found a difference upon. — 3Iill. 

Formerly, in full accord with the rugged simplicity of 
Saxon idiom, it was common to terminate a sentence with 
a preposition: 

For I must use the freedom I was born with. — Massinger. 

I look to her as on a princess 

I dare not be ambitious of. — Ibid. 

The usage of the Elizabethan writers may be seen on 
every page of Shakespeare. A growing fastidiousness, 
however, has condemned the old form as inelegant. In- 
deed, it was so reckoned as early as Dryden, who, in a 
revision of his Dramatic Poesy, after an interval of six- 
teen years, alters ' I cannot think so contemptibly of the 
age I live in,' to *the age in which I live '; while * A deeper 
expression of belief than all the actor can persuade us to ' 
is exchanged for ' can insinuate into us.' Perhaps neither 
form can be recommended as being the best, absolutely. 
The easier and briefer may sometimes be preferable in 
conversation, familiar letters, and the expression of emo- 
tion; but the statelier in all discourse that aims at dignity 
or polish. The following would be greatly improved by 
placing the terminal *of ' at the beginning: 

These more sterling qualities of strict moral conduct ; regular, 
religious habits ; temperate and prudent behavior ; sober, industrious 
life, — qualities which are generally required of public men, even if 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 281 

more superficial accomplishments should be dispensed with — he had 
absolutely nothing of. — Brougham. 

1 1 . Clearness requires that what is distinct in thought 
should be distinct in expression: 

' He said that he wished to take his friend with him to visit the 
capital and to study medicine.' 

(1) He said that, he wished to take his friend with him for the 
purpose of visiting the capital and studying medicine. [Both infin- 
itives dependent upon the first.] 

(2) He said that he wished to take his friend with him ; also to 
visit the capital and to study medicine. [Both parallel to the first.] 

(3) He said that he wished to take his friend on a visit to the 
capital ; and also that he wished to study medicine. [Second infin- 
itive dependent upon the first, and the third parallel to the first.] 

It would be a curious problem of literary Greography to trace the 
stream of French intellectual influence which has passed through 
Edinburgh, to effect [m order to effect, for the purpose of effecting] 
its infiltration into the English mind. — Martineau. 

12. Clearness requires that words and clauses should 
be as near as possible to those with which they are gram- 
matically connected. Punctuation, as in the following 
examples, may partially redeem a bad arrangement, and 
in some cases, may remove the ambiguity; but it is better 
to express oneself clearly, as far as possible, independently 
of such aid: 

^Wanted, — A young man to take charge of a pair of horses, of a 
religious turn of mind. ' 

*We have two school-rooms sufficiently large to accommodate four 
hundred pupils, three stories high.' 

* A child was run over by a heavy wagon, four years old, wearing 
a short pink dress, and bronze boots, whose parents are not yet 
found.' 

The remedy for the first and second is obvious — trans- 



282 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

position of the italicized modifiers. There is no sufficient 
remedy for the last but to resolve it into separate state- 
ments. Wrong arrangement leads, in general, either to 
a wrong sense, as above, or to a doubtful one. Other and 
common instances of the first are : 

It is said also only to occur three times. — Alford. 

[ . . . . three times only.'] 

It is said this can only be filled in thus. — IMd. 

[ . . . . filled in only thus.] * 

Which can only be decided when those circumstances are 
known. — Ibid. [ . , . . only when.] 

The first could be only imputed to the just indignation of the 
gods. — Gibhon. 

If they only did their life-work on purpose to follow Christ, if 
they 07ily did it because it was following Christ, if they 07ily joyed 
in following him. — Beecher. 

One species of bread, of coarse quality, was only allowed to be 
baked. — Alison. 

By greatness, I do not only mean the bulk of any single object, 
but the largeness of a whole view. — Addison. 

Theism can only be opposed to polytheism or atheism. — Shaftes- 
bury. 

The distinction is observed in French, but never appears to have 
been made. — Alfoi^d. 

In all abstract cases where we merely speak of numbers the verb 
is better singular. — Ibid. 

The beaux of that day used the abominable art of painting their 
faces, as well as the women. — ly Israeli. 

The salt-merchants, the grocers, the confectioners, conspired 
together to adulterate the articles in which they dealt in a thousand 
ways. — Alison. 

It is the repetition of the period in somewhat a different form. 
— Blair. 



THE SEKTEJs'CE — ORDER. 283 

A great stone that I happened to find after a long search hy the 
sea-sJiore, served me for an anchor. — Swift. 

Oswald not only communicated a copy of his commission but a 
part of his instructions and a letter from the Secretary of State. — 
Bancroft. 

Of the so-called 'squinting' constructions, in which the 
sense is left doubtful : 

Nor does this false modesty expose us only to such actions as are 
indiscreet. — Spectator. 

The knight, seeing his habitation reduced to so small a compass, 
and himself in a manner shut out of his own house, upon the death 
of his mother, ordered all the apartments to be flung open. — Ihid. 

When I hear a person use a queer expression, or pronounce a 
name in reading differently from his neighbors. — Alford. 

The smooth monotony of the leading religious topics, as man- 
aged by the Frencli orators, under the treatment of Jeremy Taylor, 
receives at each turn of the sentence a new flexure. — De Quincey. 

The following sentence, besides being anti-climacteric, 
involves an ambiguity in the position or use of * it ' : 

I found it [the manuscript of Waverley'] again by mere accident 
among other waste papers, in an old cabinet, the drawers of which 
I was rummaging, in order to accommodate a friend with some fish- 
ing tackle, after it had been mislaid for several years, — Scott. 

The principle under consideration proscribes also the 
splitting of particles : 

I have often spoken to you upon matters kindred to, or at any 
rate not distinctly connnected with, my subject for Easter. — Helps. 

13. Emphatic words should be placed in emphatic 
positions, — for the most part, at the beginning or at the 
end of the sentence. While the beginning, as the first to 
strike the attention, is emphatic, the end, as a rule, is 
more so ; for at the latter point there is an unwonted 



284 ESSEiq-TIALS OF EI>rGLISH. 

pause, the mind is detained, and consequently a capital 
image here cannot but make the deeper impression: 

On wl^tever side we contemplate Homer, what principally 
strikes us is his wonderful invention. — Pope. 

Lord help you, sir, they are not angry with one another ; they 
have no cause of quarrel, but their country thinks that there should 
be a, pause. — Fox. 

Hence to emphasize the grammatical subject unusually, 
it must be removed from its usual place. Likevrise of 
the grammatical predicate : 

Blessed are the peacemakers. — Blhle. 

Sad and iveary was the march to Valley Forge. — Irving. 

Louder and louder the deep thunder rolled, as through the myr- 
iad halls of some vast temple in the sky ; fiercer and brighter became 
the lightning, more and more heavily the rain poured down. — 
Diclcens. 

It will be seen that the effect is here enhanced by the 
novelty of inversion. The strength of the following sen- 
tence consists largely in the stress which the predicate 
position gives to modifiers: 

A question so abrupt, upon a subject so momentous, requires 
consideration. — Dickens. 

It is well to remember, however, that the question of em- 
phatic position is affected by circumstantial considera- 
tions — in particular, by the character of the preceding or 
succeeding sentence: 

14. However numerous and varied the parts of a sen- 
tence, they should be so subordinated and arranged as to 
form a harmonious whole: 

With an exuberance of thought and a splendor of diction which 
more than satisfied the highly raised expectations of the audience, 



THE SEl^^TENCE — ORDER. 285 

he described the character and institutions of the natives of India ; 
recounted the circumstances in whicli the Asiatic empire of Britain 
had originated; and set forth the constitution of the Company and 
of the Presidencies. — JIacaulay. 

Such as it ' was when, on the eve of great events, he returned 
from his travels, in the prime of health and manly beauty, loaded 
with literary distinctions and glowing with patriotic hopes ; such it 
continued to be when, after having experienced every calamity which 
is incident to our nature, old, poor, sightless, and disgraced, he 
retired to his hovel to die. — Ibid. 

These sentences comprise many particulars, yet are per- 
fectly clear and integral. Everything crystallizes about a 
central idea, and the result is an organic body, not a mere 
collection of members. Compare with either the follow- 
ing: 

To this succeeded that licentiousness which entered with the 
Restoration, and from infecting our religion and morals, fell to cor- 
rupt our language ; which last was not likely to be much improved 
by those who at that time made up the court' of King Charles the 
Second; either such as had followed him in his banishment, or had 
been altogether conversant in the dialect of these fanatic times ; or 
young men who had been educated in the same country ; so that the 
court, which used to be the standard of correctness and propriety of 
speech, was then, and I think has ever since continued, the worst 
school in England for that accomplishment ; and so will remain, till 
better care be taken in the education of our nobility, that they may 
be set out in the world with some foundation of literature, in order 
to qualify them for patterns of politeness. — Sivift. 

There are few principles of order which the above does 
not violate; but its main defect is its utter want of unity. 
The thoughts adhere so slightly that they should be cast 
into five or six periods. Due subserviency of parts to one 
governing conception is incompatible (1) with irrelevant 

1 Milton's temper. 



286 ESSENTIALS or ENGLISH. 

or discordant ideas, (2) with an excess of parenthetical 
clauses: 

'Archbishop Tillotson died in this year. He was exceedingly 
beloved both by King William and Queen Mary, who nominated Dr. 
Tennison, Bishop of Lincoln, to succeed him.' 

Arrived at his house in Windsor Terrace (which I noticed was 
shabby like himself, but also like himself, made all the show it 
could), he presented me to Mrs. Micawber, a thin and faded lady, 
not at all young, who was sitting in the parlor (the first floor was 
altogether unfurnished, and the blinds were kept down to delude 
the neighbors), with a baby at her breast. — Dichens. 

The principles which regulate the formation of single 
sentences, regulate also the synthesis of sentences into 
paragraphs,* and of paragraphs into essays. The order of 
the constituents should be that of an ascending series — 
the bond which unites them, in any case, being their com- 
mon relation to the point which jointly they develop. Let 
it not be forgotten that all correct discourse is steadily 
progressive. If the order of expression is often or habit- 
ually loose and disjointed, it will be found that the train 
of ideas is chaotic — that into the mind of such a writer 
thoughts and expressions crowd upon each other by the 
slightest connections. This style, and the doctrine which 
underlies it, are illustrated in a lively manner by Shake- 
speare: 

Falstaff. What is the gross sum that I owe thee? 

Hostess. Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself and thy 
money too. Thou didst swear to me on a parcel gilt-goblet, sitting 
in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, on 
Wednesday in Whitsun-week, when the Prince broke thy head for 
likening him to a singing man of Windsor; thou didst swear to me 

1 Leading divisions or stages in the development of a tlieme, comprising a 
new phase or branch of the main topic, and indicated to the eye by indentation. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 287 

then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my 
Lady thy wife. Canst thou deny it? Did not Good-wife Keech, tlie 
butcher's wife, come in then, and call me Gossip Quickly? coming in 
to borrow a mess of vinegar; telling us she had a good dish of 
prawns ; whereby tliou didst desire to eat some ; whereby 1 told thee 
they were ill for a green wound. And didst not thou, when she was 
going down stairs, desire me to be no more so familiar with such 
poor people, saying that ere long they should call me Madam? And 
didst thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch the thirty shillings? etc., 
etc. 

The transition from one sentence to another, as from 
one paragraph to another, should be easy and natural. 
For this purpose, according to the nature and relations of 
the thought, pronouns of reference, inferential adverbs, 
repetitions, conjunctions, and other connecting words or 
phrases, may be used. Thus: 

Pitt was in the array for a few months in time of peace. His 
biographer accordingly insists on our confessing that, if the young 
cornet had remained in the service, he would have been one of the 
ablest commanders that ever lived. But this is not all. Pitt, it 
seems, was not merely a great poet .... but a finished example of 

moral excellence He was in the right when he attempted to 

establish an inquisition, and to give bounties for perjury, in order to 
get Walpole's head. He was in the right when he declared Walpole 
to have been an excellent minister. He was in the right when, being 
in opposition, he maintained that no peace ought to be made with 
Spain, till she should formally renounce the right of search. He 
was in the right when, being in office, he silently acquiesced in a 
treaty by which Spain did not renounce the right of search 

The truth is, that there scarcely ever lived a person who had so 
little claim to this sort of praise as Pitt. He was undoubtedly a 
great man. But his was not a complete and well proportioned 
greatness. The public life of Hampden, or of Somers, resembles a 
regular drama, which can be criticized as a whole, and every scene 
of which is to be viewed in connection with the main action. The 



288 ESSENTIALS OF E]S"GLISH. 

public life of Pitt, on the other hand, is a rude though striking 
piece — a piece, abounding in incongruities — a piece without any 
unit of plan, but redeemed by some noble passages, the effect of 
which is increased by the tameness or extravagance of what precedes 
and of what follows. His opinions were unfixed. His conduct at 
some of the most important conjunctures of his life was evidently 
determined by pride and resentment. He had one fault, which of 
all human faults is most rarely found in company with true great- 
ness. He was extremely affected. He was an almost solitary in- 
stance of a man of real genius, and of a brave, lofty, and command- 
ing spirit, without simplicity of character. He was an actor in the 
closet, an actor at Council, an actor in Parliament; and even in 
private society he could not lay aside his theatrical tones and 
attitudes. — Macaulay. 

The opening of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Emph'e is a charming specimen of sequence: 

In the second century of the Christian Era, the empire of Rome 
comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized 
portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy 
were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valor. The gentle 
but powerful influences of laws and manners had gradually cemented 
the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and 
abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free 
constitution was preserved with decent reverence : the Roman senate 
appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the 
emperors all the executive powers of government. During a happy 
period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was 
conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, 
and the two Antonines. It is the design of this, and of the two 
succeeding chapters, to describe the prosperous condition of their 
empire; and afterward from the death of Marcus Antonius, to 
deduce the most important circumstances of its decline and fall; a 
revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the 
nations of the earth. ^ 

1 First paragraph. 



THE SEKTEJq^CE — ORDER. 289 

The student will hardly need to be reminded that, to 
attain excellence in the art of expression, , the study of 
principles must be supplemented by an intimate acquaint- 
ance with good writers, and by continual careful practice. 
* Evil communications corrupt good manners.' 'To write 
well,' says Dryden, ' one must have frequent habitudes 
with the best company.' None will imagine that he can 
acquire easily or quickly what the most distinguished 
authors confess to have reached by patient industry. Says 
Gibbon : 

The style of an author should be an image of his mind, but the 
choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. Many- 
experiments were made before I could hit the middle tone between 
a dull chronicle and a rhetorical declamation : three times did I 
compose the first chapter, and twice the second and third, before I 
was tolerably satisfied with their effect. 

At the age of twenty-five, Prescott resumed the study of 
Rhetoric, and when he began to write for the public he 
revised often. Having written several chapters of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, he says : 

Two or three faults of style occur to me in looking over some 
former compositions. Too many adjectives; too many couplets of 
substantives as well as adjectives, and perhaps of verbs; too set; 
sentences too much in the same mould; too formal periphrasis 
instead of familiar; sentences balanced by 'ands,' 'buts,' and 
semicolons; too many precise, emphatic pronouns, as 'these,* 
'those,' 'which,' etc., instead of the particles 'the,' 'a,' etc. 

In his old age, Webster expressed fear that his style 
would degenerate, and added : 

My style was. not formed without great cllre, and earnest study 
of the best authors. I have labored hard upon it, for I early felt 
the importance of expression to thought. 

Plato's style was by the ancients thought divine, but he 
19 



290 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

wrote the beginning of his Republic many times in a 
great variety of ways. ' Hasten slowly ' is the advice of 
Carlyle : 

In the way of writing, no great thing was ever, or will ever be 

done with ease, but with difficulty Shakespeare we may 

fancy, wrote with rapidity, but not till he had thought with in- 
tensity Neither was Milton one of the mob of gentlemen that 

write with ease; he did not attain Shakespeare's facility, one per- 
ceives, of even writing fast after long preparation, but struggled 
while he wrote. Goethe also tells us he * had nothing sent him in 
his sleep,' no page of his but he knew well how it came there. 

Finally all that has, in these several chapters, been said 
regarding efficiency of communication by language, may 
be summed up in the words of Locke to the Bishop of 
Worcester : 

My lord, tlie new way of ideas, and the old way of speaking 
intelligibly, was always, and ever will be, the same. And if I may 
take the liberty to declare my sense of it, herein it consists : 

(1) That a man use no words but such as he makes the signs 
of certain determined objects of his mind in thinking, which he 
can make known to another. (2) Next that he use the same word 
steadily for the sign of the same immediate object of his mind in 
thinking. (3) That he join those words together in propositions, 
according to the grammatical rules of that language he speaks in. 
(4) That he unite those sentences in a coherent discourse. 

EXERCISES. 
1. Criticise and amend the following: 

On rather a narrow strip of land. — Everett. 
Some virtues are only seen in adversity. — Eclectic. 
There will still remain much of his poetry that can only perish 
with the English language. — Macaulay. 

In this plight, and with a strong consciousness of it, I waited to 
introduce myself to, and make my first impression on, my formida- 
ble aunt. — Dichens. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 291 

The brave sufferer refused to purchase liberty, though liberty 
would to him have been life, by recognizing the authority which had 
confined him. — Macaulay. 

It mattered little what the nature of the task was; whether it 
were organizing an opposition to a political faction, or a troop of 
cavalry to resist invasion. — Prescott. 

Miss Meadowcroft searched the newspapers for tidings of the 
living John Jago in the privacy of her own room. — Wilkie Collins. 

Penelope had to bear up alone for twenty years, without a friend, 
without a counsellor, and with even a child whose constancy was 
wavering. — Froude. 

They taught them, they brought them really and truly to believe, 
that they had immortal souls, and that they would one day stand at 
the awful judgment-bar and give account for their lives, there. — 
IMd. 

Lothair was unaffectedly gratified at not only receiving his friends 
at his own castle, but under these circumstances of intimacy. — 
Disraeli. 

The prose division of written discourse is intended mainly to 
nourish that department of the mind which is called the intellect. — 
Kellogg, 

No professor of music, text-book as well as instructor, sits down 
before his pupil, expounds the principles upon which the art rests, 
explains how this and that piece should be rendered, .... and 
then goes away imagining that his work is done. — Ihid. 

Hence he considered marriage with a modern political economist 
as very dangerous. — D' Israeli. 

The extensive view presented from the fourth story of the Hud- 
son River ! 

His remains were committed to that bourne whence no traveller 
returns attended by his friends I 

We do not follow rule in spelling other words, but custom. — 
Alford. 

This doubling only takes place in a syllable. — Ibid. 



292 ESSEI^TIALS OF Ei^GLISH. 

I remember when the French band of the 'Guides' were in 
this country, reading in the 'Illustrated News.' — Ihid. 

He left the room very slowly repeating his determination not to 
obey. 

Hence the despotic state will be generally successful, if a contest 
occurs, in the outset. — Alison. 

One species of bread, of coarse quality, was only allowed to be 
baked. — Ibid. 

I have now and then inserted in the text, characters of books 
that I have not read, on the faith of my guides. — Hallam. 

Wolsey left at his death many buildings which he had begun, in 
an unfinished state, and which no one expects to see complete. — 
lUd. 

The style is uncouth and hard ; but with great defects of style, 
which should be the source of perpetual delight, no long poem will 
be read. — Ibid. 

I shall have a comedy for you, in a season or two at farthest, 
that I believe will be worth your acceptance. — Goldsmith. 

The savage people in many places of America, except the gov- 
ernment of small families, have no government at all, and live at 
this day in that savage manner as I said before. — Holhes. 

Some dozen years afterward, I had an editorial successor (in the 
* Examiner '), Mr. Fonblanque, who had all the wit for which I toiled, 
without making any pretensions to it. — Leigh Hunt. 

And so begin his examination in such articles as he could raise 
the greatest bustle in. — Bentley. 

After killing his wife and children, he laid them upon a pile 
which he had erected for that purpose, and thus setting fire to the 
whole, rushed and expired in the midst of the flames. — Goldsmith. 

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. — New 
Testament. 

As it is impossible for such an irrational way of conversation to 
last long among a people that make any profession of religion, or 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 293 

show of modesty, if the country geiiLlcmcn get into it, they will 
certainly be left in the lurch. — Spectator. 

The Romans understood liberty, at least, as well as we. — Swift. 

It contained a warrant for conducting me and my retinue to 
Traldragdubb, or Trildrogdrib, for it is pronounced both ways, as 
near as I can remember, by a party of ten horse. — Ibid. 

Thus I have fairly given you, sir, ray own opinion, as well as 
that of a great majority of both houses here, relating to this weighty 
affair; upon which I am confident you may securely reckon. — Ibid. 

With these writings, young divines are more conversant than 
with those of Demosthenes, who, by many degrees, excelled the 
other; at least as an orator. — Ibid. 

Meantime the Britons, left to shift for themselves, and daily 
harassed by cruel inroads from the Picts, were forced to call in the 
Saxons for their defence; who, consequently, reduced the greatest 
part of the island to their own power, drove the Britons into the 
most remote and, mountainous parts, and the rest of the country, in 
customs, religion, and language, became wholly Saxon. — Ibid. 

The laughers will be for those who have most wit ; the serious 
part of mankind, for those who have most reason on their side, — 
Bolingbroke. 

Let me, therefore, conclude by repeating, that division has 
caused all the mischief we lament ; that union alone can retrieve it ; 
and that a great advance toward this union was the coalition of 
parties, so happily begun, so successfully carried on, and of late so 
unaccountably neglected; to say no worse. — Ibid. 

Are these designs, which any man, who is born a Briton, in any 
circumstances, in any situation, ought to be ashamed or afraid to 
avow? — Ibid. 

We have the power of retaining, altering, and compounding 
those images which we have once received into all the varieties of 
picture and vision that are most agreeable to the imagination. — 
Addison. 

She dropped her face on my old nurse's breast, and, ceasing this 
supplication, which in its agony and grief was half a woman's, half 



294 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

a child's, as all her manner was (being, in that, more natural, and 
better suited to her beauty, as I thought, than any other manner 
could have been), wept silently, while my old nurse hushed her like 
an infant. —Dichens. 

Running waters, inviting* to the bath, tempting the angler, 
alluring wild fowl, were necessary to their paradise. Their lan- 
guage, like that of the Iroquois, abounds in vowels, and is destitute 
of labials. Its organization has a common character, but etymology 
has not yet been able to discover conclusive analogies between the 
roots of words. — Bancroft. 

The former, being a man of good parts of learning, and after 
some years spent in New College, in Oxford, of which his father had 
been formerly fellow (that family pretending and enjoying many 
privileges there, as of kin to the founder), had spent his time abroad, 
in Geneva and among the cantons of Switzerland. — Clarendon, 

In this uneasy state, both of his public and private life, Cicero 
was oppressed by a new and cruel affliction, the death of his beloved 
daughter TuUia; which happened soon after her divorce from Dol- 
abella ; whose manners and humours were entirely disagreeable to 
her. — Middleton. 

2. Make the following sentences periodic : 

The world is not eternal, nor is it the work of chance. 

This was forbidden by taste, as well as by judgment. 

He kept himself alive with the fish he caught, or with the goats 
he shot. 

His actions were frequently criticised, but his character was 
above criticism. 

One generation would have no advantage over another, if this 
opinion were well founded. 

I shall not vote for this measure, unless it is clearly constitutional. 

You must take this extremely perilous course, in which success 
is uncertain, and failure disgraceful, as well as ruinous, or else the 
liberty of your country is endangered. 



THE SEXTEXCE — ORDER. 295 

We came to our journey's end, at last, with no small difficulty, 
after much fatigue, through deep roads and bad weather. 

There is a mixture of good and evil in every human character 
and transaction. 

Competition has produced activity where monopoly would have 
produced sluggishness, 

A history that does not serve this purpose would be perfectly 
useless, though it be filled with battles and commotions. 

The mind is crippled and contracted by perpetual attention to 
the same ideas, just as any action or posture, long continued, will 
disfigure the limbs. 

3. Change the following periodic sentences into loose ones: 

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for 
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them 
with another, .... a decent respect for the opinion of mankind 
requires, that they should declare the causes which impel them to 
the separation. — Declaration of Independence. 

Unless we look on this world as only a nursery for the next, and 
believe that the several generations of rational creatures, which rise 
up and disappear in such quick succession, here receive only the first 
rudiments of their existence, afterward to be transported into a 
more friendly climate, where they may spread and flourish to all 
eternity, how can we find in the formation of man that wisdom 
which shines through all the works of God? 

If we rise yet higher and consider the fixed stars as so many 
oceans of flame, that are each of them attended with a different set 
of planets; and still discover new firmaments and new lights, that 
are sunk farther in those unfathomable depths of aether; we are 
lost in such a labyrinth of suns and worlds, and confounded with 
the magnificence and immensity of nature. — Addison. 

If you look alx)ut you and consider the lives of others as well as 
your own ; if you think how few are born with honor, and how many 
die without name or children ; how little beauty we see, and how few 
friends we hear of; how many diseases, and how much poverty there 



ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

is in the world; you will fall down upon your knees, and, instead of 
repining at your afflictions, will admire so many blessings which you 
have received at the hand of God. — Temple. 

Favored child of an age of trial and struggle, carefully nursed 
through a period of hardship and anxiety, endowed at that time by 
the oblations of men like Harvard, sustained from its first founda- 
tion by the paternal arm of the commonwealth, by a constant suc- 
cession of munificent bequests, and by the prayers of all good men, 
the University at Cambridge now invites our homage, as the most 
ancient, and the most important seat of learning in the land. 

Now, if Nature should intermit her course, and leave altogether, 
though it were but for a while, the observation of her own laws ; if 
those principal and mother elements of the world, whereof all things 
in this lower world are made, should lose the qualities which now 
they have ; if the frame of that heavenly arch erected over our heads 
should loosen and dissolve itself; if celestial spheres should forget 
their wonted motions, and by irregular volubility turn themselves 
any way as it might happen ; if the prince of the lights of heaven 
which now as a giant doth run his unwearied course, should, as it 
were, through a languishing faintness, begin to stand and to rest 
himself; if the moon should wander from her beaten way, the times 
and seasons of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused 
mixtures, the winds breathe out their last gasp, the clouds yield no 
rain, the earth be defeated by heavenly influence, the fruits of the 
earth pine away as children at the withered breasts of their mothers 
no longer able to yield them relief : what would become of man him- 
self, whom these now do ail serve? — Hooker. 

4. Combine the following statements or facts, in each para- 
graph, into sentences of agreeable length. Carefully observe the 
principles of order : 

There is a large nerve. It runs from the skull through the back- 
bone. It is called the spinal marrow. From every part of it nerves 
branch off in every direction again and again. They cover the body 
like fine net-work. 

The mischievous little boy sat upon my knees. It was on Christ- 
mas morning. He was holding fast his little stockings. They were 



THE SENTEJ^CE — ORDER. 297 

stuffed as full as full can be. He was listening attentively to me. 
His face was demure. It was mild. I then told him something. It 
was that old Santa Claus does not love naughty children. Santa 
Claus fills stockings with Christmas presents. 

A great tree used to shelter the quiet little Dutch inn of yore. 
Instead of this, there now was reared a j^ole. The pole was tall and 
naked. It had something on the top that looked like a red night- 
cap. A flag was fluttering from it. On the flag was a singular as- 
semblage of stars and stripes. All this was strange and incomprehen- 
sible. Remembered the tavern sign. Recognized on this the face of 
King George. Even this was singularly changed. Red coat changed 
for one of blue and buff. Sword in the hand instead of a sceptre. 
Head decorated with a cocked hat. Underneath was painted * Gen- 
eral Washington.' A crowd of folks about the door. This was 
usual. But none that Rip knew. 

Look at the deacon Stephen. His faithful proclamation of the 
word offends the Jews. They cannot combat him with reason or 
with truth. They hire false witnesses. They stir the people up. 
They set him before the Council. They condemn him falsely. They 
cast him from the city. They bind him. They strip him. They 
stone him. He stands. He looks at heaven. He prays for them. 
He dies. 

The Church's work is spirit-work. Not to be done through the 
polemic rage of pamphlets and of newspapers. Not to be done in 
the conventions and councils of the Church. It must be done in 
private. It must be done in the closet. It must be done in the 
sanctuary. It must be done in families. It must be done in schools. 
It must be done in parishes. It must be done in the room of sick- 
ness. It must be done in the death chamber. 

An elderly gentleman appears. Large face. Strongly marked 
features. Countenance beams with a sunny smile. Perpetual dim- 
ple on his broad red cheek. Evidently opulent. Not unmindful of 
the adornment of his person. He is richly dressed. Not to say 
gaudily dressed. He indulges to a reasonable extent in the pleasures 
of the table. This may be inferred from the joyous and oily manner 
in which he rubs his stomach. He does this by way of informing 



298 ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

his audience that he is going home to dinner. In the possession and 
enjoyment of all the good things of life, he suddenly loses his foot- 
ing and stumbles. How the audience roar! Set upon by a noisy 
and officious crowd. Buffet him unmercifully. Cuff him. Scream 
with delight. Struggles to get up. Persecutors knock him down 
again. Spectators convulsed with merriment. Gets up. Staggers 
away. Hat, wig, and clothing gone. Himself battered. Watch 
and money gone. Exhausted with laughter. Express merriment 
and admiration in rounds of applause. 

5. Form into paragraphs: 

Erasmus considered that for the vulgar a lie might be as good 
as truth and often better a lie ascertained to be a lie to Luther 
was deadly poison poison to him and poison to all who meddled with 
it in his own genuine greatness he was too humble to draw insolent 
distinctions in his own favor or to believe that any one class on 
earth is of more importance than another in the eyes of the Great 
Maker of them all well then you know what I mean by faith and 
what I mean by intellect it was not that Luther was without intel- 
lect he was less subtle less learned than Erasmus but in mother wit 
in elasticity in force and imaginative power he was as able a man as 
ever lived Luther created the German language as an instrument of 
literature his translation of the Bible is as rich and grand as our 
own and his table talk as full of matter as Shakespeare's plays again 
you will mistake me if you think I represent Erasmus as a man 
without conscience or belief in God and goodness but in Luther that 
belief was a certainty in Erasmus it was only a high probability and 
the difference between the two is not merely great it is infinite in 
Luther it was the root in Erasmus it was the flower in Luther it 
was the first principle of life in Erasmus it was an inference which 
might be taken away and yet leave the world a very tolerable and 
habitable place after all you see the contrast in their early lives you 
see Erasmus light bright sarcastic fond of pleasure fond of society 
fond of wine and kisses and intellectual talk and polished company 
you see Luther throwing himself into the cloister that he might sub- 
due his will to the will of God prostrate in prayer in nights of 
agony and distracting his easy-going confessor with the exaggerated 
scruples of his conscience. — Froude. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 299 

When all the provincials became liable to the peculiar imposi- 
tions of Roman citizens they seemed to acquire a legal exemption 
from the tributes which they had paid in their former condition of 
subjects such were not the maxims of government adopted by Cara- 
calla and his pretended son the old as well as the new taxes were at 
the same time levied in the provinces it was reserved for the virtue 
of Alexander to relieve them in a great measure from his intolerable 
grievance by reducing the tributes to a thirteenth part of the sum 
exacted at the time of his accession it is impossible to conjecture the 
motive that engaged him to spare so trifling a remnant of the pub- 
lie evil but the noxious weed which had not been totally eradicated 
again sprang up witli the most luxuriant growth and in the succeed- 
ing age darkened the Roman world with its deadly shade in the, 
course of this history we shall be too often summoned to explain the 
land tax the capitation and the heavy contributions of corn wine oil 
and meat which were exacted from the provinces for the use of the 
court the army and the capital as long as Rome and Italy were 
respected at the centre of government a national spirit w^as preserved 
by the ancient and insensibly imbibed by the adopted citizens the 
principal commands of the army were filled by men who had re- 
ceived a liberal education were well instructed in the advantages of 
laws and letters and who had risen by equal steps through the regu- 
lar succession of civil and military honors to their influence and 
example we may partly ascribe the modest obedience of the legion 
during the two first centuries of the imperial history but when the 
last enclosure of the Roman constitution was trampled down by 
Caracalla the separation of professions gradually succeeded to the 
distinction of ranks the more polished citizens of the internal prov- 
inces w^ere alone qualified to act as lawyers and magistrates the 
rougher trade of arms was abandoned to the peasants and barbari- 
ans of the frontiers who knew no country but their camp no science 
but that of war nc civil laws and scarcely those of military disci- 
pline with bloody hands savage manners and \lesperate resolutions 
they sometimes guarded but much oftener subverted the tlirone of 
the emperors. — Gibbon, 



300 ESSENTIALS OF EJ^GLISH. 

6. Change to the diction and order of prose: 

In their looks divine 
The image of their glorious Maker shone, 
Truth, wisdom, sanctitude severe and pure, — 
Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd. 
Whence true authority in men : though both 
Not equal, as their sex not equal, seem'd ; 
For contemplation, he, and valor, formed, 
For softness, she, and sweet, attractive grace ; 
He for God only, she for God in him. 
His fair large front and eye sublime declar'd 
Absolute rule ; and hyacinthine locks 
Round from his parted forelock manly hung 
Clust'ring, but not beneath his shoulders broad: 
She as a veil down to the slender waist 
Her unadorned golden tresses wore 
Dishevel'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd. 
As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied 
Subjection, but requir'd with gentle sway. 
And by her yielded, by him best receiv'd, — 
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride. 
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay. — Milton. 

Him the^Almighty Power 
Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky, 
With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
In adamantine chains and penal fire. 
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. 
Nine times the space that measures day and night 
To mortal men, he with his horrid crew 
Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf. 
Confounded though immortal : but his doom 
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought 
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 
Torments him ; round he throws his baleful eyes 
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay 
Mix'd with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 301 

At once, as far as angels ken, he views 

The dismal situation waste and wild; 

A dungeon horrible on all sides round, 

As one great furnace, flam'd ; yet from those flames 

No light, but rather darkness visible 

Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, 

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes, 

That comes to all, but torture without end 

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed 

With ever-burning sulphur uneonsum'd. — Ibid. 

7. Modernize, changing poetry into prose: 

Alas that I ne had English rime, or prose 

Suffisaunt, this fl.oure to praise aright ; 

But helpeth, ye that hau conning and might, 

Ye lovers, that can make of sentement ! — Chaucer. 

Pilgrymes and palmeres 
Plighten hem togidere, 
For to seken seint Jame, 
And seintes at Rome. 
The wenten forth in hire wey, 
With many wise tales 
And hadden leve to lyen 
Al hire lif after. — Langland. 

Before the necessary journey 
No one becomes wiser of thought 
Than him need be, 
To consider, 
Before his departure, 
• What, for his spirit, 
Of good or evil. 
After death-day 
Shall be doomed, — Bede. 

I wyll touch diverse kyndes of ryche men and rulers, that ye 
maye se what harme some of theim do wyth theyr ryches and 
authoritye. And especiallye I wyll begynne with theym that be 



302 ESSEl^TIALS OF EI^GLISH. 

best learned, for they seme belyke to do moste good wyth ryches and 
authoritie unto theim committed. If I therefore beynge a yonge 
simple scholer myghte be so bolde, I wolde aske an auncient, wyse, 
and well learned doctor of divinitie, whych cometh not at hys bene- 
fic.e, whether he were bounde to fede hys flocke in teachynge of 
Goddes worde, and kepyng hospitalitie or no ? He wolde answere and 
saye: Syr, my curate supplieth my roume in teachynge, and my 
farmer in kepynge of house. Yea but master doctor by your leave, 
both these more for your vauntage then for the paryshe conforte : 
and therefore the mo suche servauntes that ye kepe there, the more 
harme is it for your paryshe, and the more synne and shame for you. 
Ye may thynke that I am sumwhat saucye to laye synne and shame 
to a doctor of divinitie in thys solemne audience, for some of theim 
use to excuse the matter, and saye : Those whych I leave in inyne 
absence do farre better than I shoulde do, yf I taryed there my 
selfe. 

For als moche as it is longe tyme passed, that ther was no gen- 
eralle passage ne vyage over the see ; and many men desiren for to 
here speke of the holy lond, and hau therof gret solace and comfort; 
I John Maundevylle, Knyght, alle be it I be not worthie, that was 
born in Englond, in the town of Seynt Albones, passede the see, in 
the yeer of our Lord Jhesu Crist MCCCXXII, in the day of Seynt 
Michelle ; and hidre to have ben longe tyme over the see, and have 
seyn and gon thorghe manye dy verse londes, and many provynces 
and kingdomes and iles; and have passed thorghout Turkye, Tar- 
tarye, Percye, Surrye, Arabye, Egypt the highe and the lowe, 
Ermonye the litylle and the grete; thorgh Lybye, Caldee, and a 
gret partie of Ethiope; thorgh Amazoyne, Inde the lasse and the 
more, a gret partie; and thorgh out many othere iles, that ben 
abouten Inde ; where dwellen many dyverse f olkes, and of dy verse 
maneres and lawes, and of dyverse schappes of men. Of which 
londes and iles I schalle speke more pleynly hereaftre. And I schal 
devise you sum partie of thinges that there ben, whan time schalle 
ben, af tre it may best come to my mynde ; and specyally for hem, 
that wylle and are in purpos for to visite the holy citee of Jerusalem, 
and the holy places that are thereaboute. And I schalle telle the 
weye, that thei schalle holden thidre. For I have often times 



THE SENTENCE — ORDER. 303 

passed and ryden the way, with gode corapanye of many lordes: 
God be thonked. 

8. Turn into English idiom : 

Arms I sing, and the man, wlio, by fate an exile, came the first 
from the coast of Troy into Italy and to the Lavinian shores. Much 
he both on land was tossed and on the deep by the power of the 
gods, on account of the unforgetting rage of cruel Juno. Many 
things also by war he suffered, while he was striving to found a city 
and to bring [his] gods into Latium ; whence the Latin race, and the 
Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome. 

Muse, to me the causes relate, what divine purpose having 
been thwarted, or why grieving, the queen of heaven forced a man 
distinguished for piety to roll so many vicissitudes, to undergo so 
many labors. Are so great wraths to celestial minds? — Virgil. 

Sing, goddess, the destroying anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, 
which placed innumerable woes to the Achaeans, and prematurely 
sent many brave souls of heroes to Hades, and made them preys to 
dogs, and to all birds of prey : but the will of Jove was being ful- 
filled from which [time] indeed first both the son of Atreus, king of 
men, and divine Achilles, contending, stood apart. 

And who, then, of the gods sent together them both to fight in 
contention? The son of Latona and of Jupiter; for he, being en- 
raged with the king, excited an evil disease throughout the army, 
and the people were perishing: because the son of Atreus dishon- 
ored this priest Chyrses; for he came to the swift ships of the 
Achaeans, both being about to ransom his daughter, and bearing 
boundless ransoms, and having in hands the fillet of far-darting 
Apollo, upon a golden sceptre : and he did entreat all the Achaeans, 
and most, the two sons of Atreus, marshallers of the people: 'Both, 
sons of Atreus, and ye other well greaved Achaeans, may the 
gods, having Olympian abodes, give to you indeed to destroy the city 
of Priam, and to arrive well homeward: but may you liberate to me 
ray dear child, and receive these ransoms, reverencing the son of 
Jove, the far-darting Apollo. 

Then indeed all the other Achaeans shouted approval, botli to 
reverence the priest and to receive the splendid ransoms ; l)ut it did 



304 ESSE^-TIALS OF EN'GLISH. 

not please the mind to Agamemnon, son of Atreus, but he did dis- 
miss him illy, and did add a harsh speech : ' May I find not thee, 
old man, near the hollow ships, either now delaying or coming again 
hereafter, lest indeed the sceptre and fillet of the god may not profit 
you. But I will not liberate her before even old age comes on her, in 
our house, in Argos, far from her country, plying the web.' — Homer. 

But that, whence [it] began, in the same [place] may terminate 
the oration, we all to you the greatest thanks give, Caesar, we have 
even greater [thanks to give]. For all the same [sentiment] feel, 
which from the entreaties and tears of all you to perceive have been 
able ; but since it is not necessary for all, standing, to say [so], by 
me certainly they wish it to be said, to whom it is in some sort in- 
dispensable; and u'hich is fitting to happen (Marcus Marcellus by 
you to this assembly and to the Roman people and to the republic 
having been restored), that I miderstand to happen, for I know all 
to rejoice, not concerning the safety of one only, but concerning the 
common safety of all. But, which is [proof] of the greatest affec- 
tion — my [love] which toward him ever to all was known, so that 
I might scarcely yield to Caius Marcellus, his most excellent and 

most loving brother, indeed to no one save that [brother] since 

that by my solicitude, care [and], labor, I showed so long as it was 
doubted concerning the safety of him, surely I ought to show [it] 
at this time, having been released from great cares, annoyances, 
griefs. Therefore, Caesar, thus to you thanks I render, that (I hav- 
ing been not only preserved from all things by you, but also hon- 
ored) nevertheless to your innumerable kindnesses toward me alone 
there has been added, by this your deed, a very great increase, which 
I was thinking not to be able to be done. — Cicero.^ 

The door opposite was seen upon a noble sarcophagus the marble 
picture of an estimable man, upon a pillow reposing. He held a 
scroll, and appeared with silent attention to gaze. It was so placed 
that one the words which it contained easily read could. It stood 
thereon: ' Think to live.' 

Wilhelm could himself not sufliciently of the objects enjoy, 
which him surrounded : ' What a life in this Hall of the Past ! One 

1 An appeal for the pardon and return of Marcus Marcellus, 



THE SENTENCE — ORDEK. 305 

could it just as well the Hall of the Present and of the Future call. 
So was and so will all be I Nothing is transitory save the one who it 
enjoys and it beholds. Here this picture of the mother who her child 
to her heart presses ; many generations of happy mothers beyond live; 
after centuries, perhaps, rejoices himself a father at this bearded 
man, who his earnestness lays aside and himself with liis son annises. 
Lo, blushing will through all times the bride sit; and amid her silent 
wishes yet seek that one her comfort, that one her persuade ; so im- 
patient will tlie bridegroom upon the thresliold listen, whether he 
enter may.' 

Wilhelm's eyes roved over innumerable images around. From 
the earliest crude impulse of childhood, each limb in play only to 
employ and to exercise, to the quiet retired seriousness of the sage, 
could one, in beautiful living order, see how man no natural dispo- 
sition or talent possesses without them to need and to use. From 
the first delicate, conscious feeling, when the maiden lingers, the 
pitcher out of tlie clear water again up to draw, and meanwhile her 
image satisfactorily beholds, to those high festivities, when kings 
and people as witnesses of their alliances, to the gods at the altar 
appeal, — showed itself all forcible and -powerful. 

It was a world, it was a heaven, which the spectators here sur- 
rounded, and besides the thoughts which those polished figures ex- 
cited, besides the emotions which they awoke, seemed yet something 
else present to be, by which the entire man himself influenced felt. 
Also Wilhelm observed it, without himself thereof account give to 
be able. 'What is it,' called he out, 'that, independent of all 
meaning, free from all sympathy, with which human events and 
destinies inspire us, acts so powerfully and at the same time so 
agreeably upon me? It speaks from the whole, it speaks from every 
part to me, though I the former comprehend, though I the latter to 
me especially apply could. What enchantment imagine I in these 
surfaces, these lines, these heights and breadths, these masses and 
colors! What is it, that these figures, even when cursorily in- 
spected, merely as ornaments so delightful makes ! Yes, I feel one 
might here linger, rest, all with the eyes grasp, himself happy find 
and wholly something else feel and think than that which before 
eyes stands.' — Goethe,. 



306 ESSEifTIALS OF ENGLISH. 

Take from the men the opinion of a God rewarding and aveng- 
ing. Sylla and Marius themselves bathe there with delight in the 
blood of their fellow-citizens ; Augustus, Antonius, and Lepidus sur- 
pass the furies of Sylla; Nero orders with blood-cold the murder of 
his mother. It is certain that the doctrine of a God avenging was 
extinct with the Romans. The atheist, cheat, ingrate, calumniator, 
brigand, blood-thirsty, reasons and acts accordingly, if he is sure of 
the impunity on the part of the men ; for, if there is no God, this 
monster is his God to himself ; he sacrifices all that which he desires, 
or all that which to him makes obstacle ; the prayers the most ten- 
der, the best reasonings, avail no more over him than over a wolf 
famished. A society private of atheists who contend for nothing 
and who lose smoothly their days in the amusements of the volup- 
tuousness, can last some time without trouble ; but if the world was 
governed by atheists, it would worth so much to be under the yoke 
immediate of those beings shapeless which one to us has painted in- 
furiated against their victims. — Voltaire. 



IISTDEX. 



Abbott, E. A., 228. 

Absolute case, 136. 

Addison, loo, 203, 212. 223, 224, 
233, 265, 282, 292, 295. 

Adjective, the, definition of, 62; 
inflection of, 77 ; derivation of. 
93, 99 ; concord of, 213. 

Adjunct defined. 64. 

Adverb, the, definition of, 62; 
division of, 63; inflection of, 
77; derivation of, 93. 

Adverb-clauses, 128. 

^sop, 155. 

Alford, 220, 223, 224, 228, 253, 
282, 283, 283, 291. 

Alison, 224, 225, 226, 236, 238, 
265, 266, 282, 292. 

Alphabet, evolution of the 
English, 40; the Anglo-Saxon, 
42, 43; imperfections of the 
English, 47. 

Amplitude, in style, 244. 

Analysis, 142. 

Anglo-Saxon, the essential ele- 
ment in English, 9 ; alphabet of, 
42 ; predominates in most popu- 
lar books, 231. 

Antithesis, advantage of, 276. 

Anti-climax, 279. 

Appended phrases and clauses, 
279. 

Appositive, the, 104; as adjective, 
114; government of, 211. 

Aristotle, on the nature of predi- 
cate and copula, 120. 

Arnold, Matthew, 135. 

Arrangement, leading principles 
of, 268. 

Article, the English, 62. 



Aryan language, 1 ; differentia- 
tion of, 6. 

Ascham, 263. 

Authority, source of, in language, 
ix. 

Auxiliaries, defined and classified, 
67; choice of, 216; svntax of, 
221. 



Bacon, 124, 155, 182, 241, 257, 

263. 
Balanced sentence, the, 277. 
Bancroft, George, 154, 176, 183, 

264, 273, 283, 283, 294. 
Bede, 301. 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 56, 234, 

282. 
Bentley, 214, 236, 292. 
BiUe, the, 50, 123, 155, 227, 230, 

255, 277, 284, 292. 
Blair, Hugh, 100, 224, 225, 236, 

282. 
Blair, Robert, 258. 
Bolingbroke, 280, 292. 
Brackets, rules for use of, 186. 
Britain, Celtic inhabitants of, 6; 

Roman conquest of, 6; Saxon 

conquest of, 7. 
Bronte, Charlotte, 243. 
Brougham, 226, 281 ; painstaking 

style of, 278. 
Brown, Brockden, 234. 
Browne, Sir Thomas, 13, 27, 240. 
Browning, 155, 236. 
Browning, Mrs., 269. 
Bryant, 54, 154, 174, 234, 236, 

237, 242, 243, 246, 264. 
Bulwer, 209, 226, 243, 250. 
Bunyan, 231, 265. 
Burke, 119, 223, 244. 



308 



INDEX. 



Burnet, 254. 

Burns, 211. 

Burton, 27. 

Byron, 53, 133, 134, 137, 209, 211, 

221, 223, 236, 248, 254, 257, 

268, 269, 271, 276. 



Caedmon, 31. 

Caesar, 209, 254. 

Campbell, 100, 258. 

Capitalization, philosophy of, 148. 

Capitals, past and present usage 
respecting, 151; leading appli- 
cations of, 151 ; essential func- 
tion of, 153, 154. 

Carlyle, 151, 183, 188, 225, 236, 
240, 241, 258, 271, 290. 

Case, defined, 70; in Anglo- 
Saxon, 71, 72; absolute, 136; 
possessive, 160, 209; nomina- 
tive, 207; objective, 208, 210. 

Caxton, William, 24, 31. 

Celts, expulsion of, from Britain, 
7. 

Celtic language, branches of, 3; 
evanescence of, 3 ; influence of, 
upon English, 9. 

Chalmers, 220, 221. 

Channing, 276. 

Chapman, 136. 

Chaucer, 21, 22, 27, 57, 63, 68, 
72, 79, 119, 132, 135, 210, 216, 
258, 263, 301. 

Checks, 46. 

Choate, 274. 

Church Litany, 255. 

Cicero, xi, 137, 141, 209, 304. 

Clarendon, 151, 294. 

Classification, of words, 102, 103, 
106; of phrases, 111 ; of clauses, 
128 ; of sentences, 138. 

Clause, the, considered as a part 
of speech, 114; kinds of, 128. 

Clay, Henry, 155. 

Climax, 277. 

Cobbett, 206. 

Coke, 105. 

Coleridge, 123, 135, 155, 174, 221, 
222, 257. 

Collins, Wilkie, 291. 



Colloquialism, 249, 250. 

Colon, the, rules for the use of, 

174, 175. 
Comma, the, rules for the use of, 

177. 
Complex sentence, the, 138. 
Compounds, 94. 
Compound sentence, the, 139. 
Conciseness, as a property of 

style, 239. 
Concord, explained, 206, 207 ; 

principles of, 207, 228. 
Congreve, 53, 155. 
Conjunction, the, defined, 64; 

derivation of, 94. 
Connectives, subordinating clas- 
ses of, 139 ; coordinating, 139 ; 

rhetorical omission of, 254; 

rhetorical repetition of, 255. 
Consonants, desirableness of, 46; 

classification of, 46, 47; table 

of, 49. 
Coordinating connectives, 139. 
Copula, the, 103, 120, 121, 129. 
Copulatives, 121, 129. 
Cornwall, 235. 
Corwin, Governor, 234. 
Coverdale, 218. 
Cowper, 59, 133. 

Culture, need of general, in dis- 
course, 230. 
Curran, 235. 
Curves, as a means of emphasis, 

134; rules for the use of, 185, 

186. 



Dana, 123. 

Daniel, 33, 257. 

Dante, 256. 

Dash, the, rules for the use of, 183. 

Declarative sentence, the, 140. 

Deity, Pope's attempt to define, 
245. 

De Mille, James, 242, 245, 254, 
257, 265. 

Dentals, 46. 

Denham, 257. 

De Quincey, 232, 239, 267, 283. 

Derivation, defined, 95; distin- 
guished from composition, 95. 



I^-DEX, 



309 



Descartes, G8. 

Dialect, definition of, 15, 18. 

Dickens, 178, 208, 209, 242. 243, 

244, 255, 284, 285. 290. 
Digrapli, 45. 
Diphthongs, 45; no improper, 45, 

note. 
D'Israeli, Isaac, 208, 215. 225, 

226, 241, 244, 265, 282. 291. 
Disraeli, Benjamin, 291. 
Dryden, 68, 224, 227, 268, 280. 
Dntch language, 5. 



Earle, 100. 

Eddas, the, 5. 

Egyptian, 39. 

Eliot, George, 134, 217, 228, 240, 
242, 279. 

Eliot, President, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, V. 

Emerson, 56, 94, 159, 160, 161, 
219, 228, 231, 240, 244. 268. 

Emphasis, by means of capitals, 
150; by repetition, 255; posi- 
tional, 283. 

England, origin of, 7; Norman 
conquest of, 8; Danish inva- 
sion of, 8. 

English, increasing interest in 
the study of, v; the old and 
the new method of teaching, vi ; 
formalism in the grammatical 
system of, vii ; relation of new 
to old, viii ; superior discipline 
afforded by, x, xi; method of 
studying, i; external relations 
of, 1 ; past and present of, 1 ; 
German origin of, 5; elements 
of, 9; dialects of, 15; homo- 
geneity of, in America, 17; 
stages in, illustrated, 19-27; 
inflectional character of early, 
19, 20; changes in, 27; char- 
acteristics of modern, 32, 33; 
bird's-eye view of the history 
of, 33, 34; phonetic change in, 
51. 

Euphony, defined and illustrated, 
251. 

Everett, 154, 290. 



Evolution, linguistic, 6. 

Exclamation-point, the, rules for 
the use of, 173. 

Exclamation, rhetorical use of, 
270. 

Exclamatory sentence, the, 141. 

Expression, conditions of excel- 
lence in the art of, 289; funda- 
mental principles of, 290. 



Fabyan, 216. 
Fielding, 223. 
Fontenelle, 213. 
Fortescue, Sir John, 24. 
Fox, 284. 

Frances, Sir Philip, 98. 
Franklin, 184, 225. 
French language, origin of, 10; 
influence of, upon English, 11. 
Froissart, 263. 
Froude, 291, 298. 



G 



Gascoigne, 30. 

Gender, English, 70. 

German, High and Low, 5. 

Gibbon, 119, 213, 216, 224, 225, 
226, 236, 282, 288, 289, 299. 

Gibbs, Professor, 156. 

Gilfillan. 225. 

Goethe, 305. 

Goldsmith, 197, 211, 218, 227, 
236, 237, 257, 263, 265, 277, 
292, 292. 

Goodrich, 174. 

Gow-er, 79, 209. 

Grammar, impolicy of technical, 
in early training, vi; evil ef- 
fects of formalism in English, 
vii; Sidney Smith on the study 
of, 266. 

Grattan, 173, 176. 

Gray, 68. 

Greek language, dialects of, 3; 
element of, in English, 14. 

Gutturals, 46. 

H 

Hall, Bishop, 147, 258. 



310 



INDEX. 



Hallam, 226, 238, 254, 292. 

Halleck, 210. 

Hamilton, Sir William, 188. 

Hare, 198. 

Harrison, 226, 265. 

Hawes, 119. 

Hawthorne, 253, 265, 268, 271. • 

Helps, 222, 234, 283. 

Heraans, Mrs., 209. 

Henry, Patrick, 269. 

Heywood, 132. 

Hieroglyphics, first form of writ- 
ing, 35; symbolism of Egyp- 
tian, illustrated, 87. 

Hobbes, 229, 292. 

Holmes, 68, 174, 229. 

Holy Rood, 22. 

Homer, 132, 304. 

Hooker, 296. 

Horace, 141, 267. 

Hunt, Leigh, 100, 292. 

Hybrids, 84. 

Hyperbole, defined and illus- 
trated, 238, 239. 



I 



Ideal, the, inexpressible, 229. 

Ideography, 37. 

Impropriety in diction, 235. 

Independent elements, 182. 

Induction, the true method of 
teaching the principles of lan- 
guage, vii, ix. 

Infinitive, the, defined and classi- 
fied, 65; historically consid- 
ered, 66; early case-forms of. 
78; so-called subject of, 208, 
note. 

Inflection, in English, explained, 
19; decay of, 20, 21; illus- 
trated, 69; former significaney 
of terminal, 82. 

Interrogation-point, the, rules for 
the use of, 172. 

Interrogation, rhetorical use of, 
270. 

Interrogative sentence, the, 140. 

Interjection, the, defined, 65; 
transmutation of, 107. 

Inversion, 269. 284. 



Irving, 281, 242, 263, 265, 277, 
■ 278, 284. 

'Is,' 82, 103, 120, 121, 129. 
' It, ' indeterminate use of, 61 ; as 
grammatical subject, 114, l35. 



Jefferson, 263. 

Jeffrey, 198, 219, 228. 

Jewell, 227. 

Johnson, 198, 199, 218, 220, 224, 

226, 232, 234, 241, 273, 277. 
Jonson, Ben, 17, 26, 252. 
Junius, 224, 235, 277. 

K 

Kant, 128. 
Keats, 271. 
Kellogg, Brainard, 242, 291. 



Labials, 46. 

Lamb, 122. 

Landor, 225. 

Langland, 301. 

Language, nature of, 1, 15; re- 
flects life, 28, 55; inadequacy 
of natural, to man, 35; fossil 
poetry of, 94; vitality of, 98; 
importance of arrangement in 
an uninflected, 267. 

Latham, 224. 

Latin language, evil effects of, 
upon modern English instruc- 
tion, vii; descendants of, 4; 
first introduction of, into Brit- 
ain, 6; influence of, upon the 
English vocabulary, 11, 12, 13. 

Letters, alphabetic, 35, 54. 

Letter-writing, 200. 

'Like.' metamorphosis of, 82. 

Locke, 226, 270. 

Lodge, 71. 

Loiidon Times, 261. 

Longfellow, 173, 253, 270. 

Loose sentence, the, 275. 

Lowell, 134, 200, 201. 

Lydgate, 23. 

Lvtton, 268. 



TXDEX. 



311 



M 

Macaulay, 154. 171. 210. 215, 223, 
225, 285, 236. 238, 241, 248, 
258, 268, 275, 277, 285, 288, 
290, 291. 

Macpherson, 225, 272. 

Malory. 263. 

Mandeville, 22, 73, 154, 302. 

Mannerism, defined and illus- 
trated. 259. 

iManning, 21. 

Marcel, vi. 

:Marlowe, 132, 132, 136, 154. 

Marsh, G. P.. 69, 210, 279. 

Martineau, James, 272. 281. 

Massinger, 280. 

Mathews, Willia,m, 264. 

* May,' descent of, 79. 

Middleton, 294. 

Mill, J. S., 123, 175, 212, 215, 
220, 226, 280. 

Milton, 8, 35, 71, 73, 100, 123, 
124, 133, 136, 137, 153, 155, 
156, 208, 215, 223, 228, 235, 
244, 248, 252, 254, 255, 257, 
258, 270, 271, 276. 300. 

Modals, 128. 

Modifiers, proper position of, 
281; classes of, 130. 

Modification, philosophy of, 61, 
125. 

Montaigne, 1, 132. 

Montgomery, 185. 

Mood, 75, 76, 77. 

Moon, G. W., 253. 

Moore. 173. 

More. Sir Thomas, 25, 73. 

More, Hannah, 248. 

Morris, Richard, 114. 

Mnlcaster, 26. 

Miiller, Max, 55, 102. 

'Must,' descent of, 79. 

Mutes, 46. 



N 



Xasals, 46. 

Xewman. J. H., 172, 176, 215. 
Nominative absolute, 136. 
Norman French, composition of, 
10. 



Norman Conquest, the, effects of. 
8,10,11. 

Norse, 4. 

Noun, the, induction and classi- 
fication of, 57, 58; inflections 
of, 69; how formed, 92, 99; 
normal functions of, 103 ; con- 
yertibilitv of, 105. 



Object, the, direct and indirect, 
104; adverbial, 105. 

' Or ' and ' nor,' confusion of, 222. 

Order, importance of, 166; syn- 
tactical, 267. 

Orm, 72. 

'Ought,'79, 80, 216. ■ 



Palatals, 46. 

Paley, 212. 

Paragraph, definition and law of 
the, 286_. 

Parenthesis, not always indepen- 
dent, 134. 

Parker, Theodore, 56, 245. 

Participle, the, defined and clas- 
sified, 65. 

Parts of speech, induction of, 
56; true principles of classify- 
ing, 100, 102. 

Paucity of words, 243. 

Pecock, 263. 

Peel, 257. 

Penn, 119. 

Period, the, uses of, 171. 

Periodic construction, 271. 

Persian, affinity of, with English, 
2. 

Personification, 153. 

Phonetic Reform, the, failure of, 
explained, 52, 53. 

Phrase, the, logical functions of, 
111; classification of, 112. 

Plato, 56; style of, 289. 

Pleonasm, 135; defined and illus- 
trated, 242. 

Plural, formation of the, 70. 

Poe, 155, 251. 

Pope, 68, 123, 147, 153, 182, 185, 



312 



Il^DEX. 



211, 213, 215, 240, 245, 249, 
251, 257, 277, 279, 284. 

Possessive, the, sign of, 160; as 
subject of a noun-attribute, 209 ; 
as subject of participial infini- 
tive, 209; how written, 210, 

_ note. 

ir'recision, in the use of w^ords, 
235. 

Predicate, the, how constituted, 
119; two elements in, 120. 

Prefixes, Saxon, 84; Latin, 86; 
Greek, 88. 

Prepositional complement, the, 
121. 

Preposition, the, definition of, 
63; derivation of, 93; termi- 
nal, 280. 

Prescott, 210, 223, 278, 289, 291. 

Press, the, influence of, upon 
language, 32. 

Prior, 228. 

Pronoun, the, definition of, 59; 
classes of, 60; inflections of, 
69, 70; Anglo-Saxon personal, 
72; concord of, 211. 

Punctuation, philosophy of, 158; 
referential, 158; elliptical, 159; 
etymological, 161; typograph- 
ical, 163; rhetorical, 166; value 
of, illustrated, 167; rules for, 
171 ; fundamental laws of, 171 ; 
compendious view of the prin- 
ciples of, 188. 

Puritv, as a propertv of stvle, 
246. 

Q 

Quotation, direct and indirect, 

152. 
Quotation-points, rules for use of, 

186. 

R 

Reade, Charles, 212. 

Rejected Addresses, 262. 

Robertson, 31. 

Rogers, 211. 

Rowe, 132. 

Runes, 42. 

Ruskin, 57, 122, 226, 263, 268. 

Russian, aggressiveness of, 4. 



Sackville. 70. 

Sallust, 123. 

Sanscrit, affinity of, with Eng- 
lish, 2. 

Sargent, E., 263. 

Savage, 68, 215, 227. 

Saxe, 248. 

Saxons, invasion of Britain by, 7. 

Scandinavian language, traces of, 
in English, 9; parent and off- 
spring of, 4, 5. 

Scaliger, 239. 

Schiller, 173. 

Scott, 68, 155, 214, 221, 222, 227, 
236, 238. 241, 264, 283. 

Seeley, J. R., 228. 

Semicolon, the, rules for the use 
of, 176, 177. 

Seneca, 257. 

Sentence, the, fundamental form 
of, 56, note; definition of, 56; 
principal elements of, 119; 
nucleus of, 130; independent 
elements of, 132; subordinate 
elements of, 124; criterion 
of simple, 138; classified as to 
structure, 138-140 ; assertive or 
declarative, 140; classified as to 
use, 140; exclamatory, 141; 
capitalization of, 148; diction, 
229-266; punctuation of, 158- 
205; concord, 206-228; order 
of words in, 267 ; periodic, 271 ; 
long, 273; loose, 274; different 
kinds of, should be intermixed, 
275; balanced, 277; emphatic 
position in, 283. 

Shakespeare, 26, 29, 31, 50, 56, 
68, 79, 99, 100, 133, 134, 135, 
136, 137, 147, 154, 155, 159, 175, 
198, 199, 210, 213, 215, 216, 
224, 232, 240, 241, 244, 251, 
257, 258, 259, 269, 270, 271, 
272, 277, 286, 287. 

'Shall,' and 'will,' 78, 79, 216. 

Shaftesbury, 282. 

Shaw, 199. 

Shelley, Mrs., 198, 223, 269. 

Sheridan, 241. 

Sherlock, 213. 



INDEX. 



813 



Shirley, 27. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 25. 130, 257. 

Sigoiirney, Mrs., 2G5. 

Simple sentence, 138. 

Simplicity, in discourse, 230. 

Slang, 250. 

Slavonic tongue, the, rank of, 4. 

Smith, Sidney, 174, 199, 211, 212, 
265, 265. 

Solecism, 250, 

Soul, the, immortality of, 245. 

Southey, 219, 231, 247, 265. 

Spectator, the, 224, 280, 283, 283, 
292. 

Spelling Reform, tlie, 52; an- 
tiquity of, 53. 

Spencer', viii, 158, 256, 265. 

Spenser, 25, 29, 80, 136, 154, 215. 

Spirants, 46. 

'Squinting' construction, 283. 

Steele, 210, 237. 

Sterne, 158, 216, 233. 

Style, simplicity as a quality of, 
230; the Johnsonian, 232; affec- 
tation in, 233; precision in, 235; 
conciseness as a property of, 
239; differences in, 244; eu- 
phony, a propel ty of, 251 ; variety 
essential to, 256 ; cardinal princi- 
ple of, 286 ; good, \\o\n acquired, 
289. 

Subject, the, either a noun or its 
equivalent. 119; enlargement 
of, 124. 

Subjunctive, the, a useless dis- 
tinction, 77. 

Subordinate elements, division of, 
127. 

Subordinating connectives, 139. 

Subordination, degrees of, 142. 

Substitution, in vowels, 45; in 
consonants, 46. 

Suffixes, Saxon, 89; Latin, 90, 91, 
92; Greek, 92. 

Sumner, 234. 

Surrey, 29. 

Swift," 206, 211, 213, 220, 226, 
263, 274, 283, 285, 292. 

Swinburne, 53, 269. 

Synonymes, defined, 237. 



Tacitus, 240. 

Taine, 271. 

Tautology, defined and illustrated, 

241. 
Taylor, Jeremy, 148; style of, 

276. 
Teaching, the important canon 

of, ix. 
Temple, 254, 296. 
Tennyson, 152, 154, 197, 256, 257, 

271. 
Tense, 75, 77; syntax of, 215, 

219, 220. 
Teutonic languages. 4. 
Thackeray, 224. 
'Than me,' 208. 
Thomson, 161, 210, 258. 
Thoreau, 268. 
Tickell, 211. 
Tillotson, 136, 265. 
"Tis,' Emerson's use of, 259. 
Tooke, 119. 
Townsend, L. T., 262. 
Transition, art of, 287. 
Trench, 98. 220, 226, 238, 241, 

272. 
Trigraph,the. 45. 
Trollope, 208, 222. 
Tuckerman, 211. 



U 



Underscore, rules for use of, 188. 
Unity, sentential. 284. 



Variety, in style, 256. 

Veclas, the, 2. 

A'erb, the, definition of, 58 ; trans- 
itive, 59; intransitive, 59; in- 
flections of, 73 ; principal parts 
of, 76; convertibility of, 106; 
concord of, 213. 

Verbals, division and subdivision 
of, 65. 

Verbosity, 242, 243. 

Vestiges of Creation, 218. 

Virgil, 13; 303. 

Voice, defined, 74; in synthetic 
tongues, 76. 



314 



IN"DEX. 



Voltaire, 306. 

Vowels, formation of, 44 ; typical, 
45; insufficiency of, for lan- 
guage, 45; table of, 48; quan- 
tity of, how indicated, 52. 

W 

Waller, 199. 

Warburton, 218. 

Webster, Daniel, 229, 243, 277, 
289. 

Whately, 123, 253. 

' Which,' modern restriction of, 61. 

White, R. a., 217, 218, 265. 

Whitney, 1, 250. 

Whittier, 68, 123, 251. 

' Will' and 'shall,' 216, 78, 79. 

Willis, 174, 236, 265. 

Wilson, Thomas, 12. 

Wilson, John, 155. 

Wolfe, 248. 

Worcester, 154. 

Words, variable life of, 28; 
sources of new, 28 ; degradation 
of, 30; history in, 81; princi- 
ple of classifying, 57; inflection 
of, in English, 69 ; changes in, 
82; formation of, 82; com- 
pound, 83; derivative, 84; 
hybrid, 84; formation of, 98; 
transmutation of, 98; logical 



functions of, 102; transmuta- 
tion of, 106; influence of, 229; 
necessary limitations of, 229; 
importance of proper choice, 
229; principles of choice in, 
230; superiority of short, 280- 
232; foreign, wlien to be 
avoided, 231; long, peculiar 
advantages of, 232 ; affected use 
of long, 233; precision in the 
use of, 235; synonymous, 237; 
exaggeration in the use of, 288, 
239; number of, 239; tautolog- 
ical, 241, 242; pleonastic, 242; 
paucity of, 243; foreign, im- 
proper use of, 246; pure, 246; 
number of, 246; obsolete, 248; 
Pope's rule concerning new, 
249; slang, 250; faulty repeti- 
tion of, 253; emphatic repeti- 
tion of, 255. 

Wordsworth, 71, 133, 215. 217, 
248. 

Writing, origin of, 85; ancient 
Chinese, illustrated, 36; Egyp- 
tian hieroglvphic, illustrated, 
89. 

Wycliffe, 23, 30, 66, 79, 80, 136. 



Young, 141, 142, 173, 258, 276. 



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